In developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where we come from MOSQUITOES are often described as the most dangerous animals on earth. This is not because of their painful bites, but because of the diseases they transmit to humans, such as malaria, dengue and zika virus. They cause more than a million deaths every year. According to the most recent WHO report, Globally, in 2019 there were an estimated 229 million cases and 409,000 malaria deaths in 87 malaria endemic countries.

On the other hand, diseases such as, zika, dengue fever, yellow fever, and chikungunya; are transmitted by day-biting mosquito called Ae. Aegypti. These vectors are not effectively controlled by the existing tools such as, Long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS) necessitating the need for additional complementary tool.

If you can prevent mosquitoes from biting you it means then you are able to protect your self from malaria, dengue fever, chikungunya, zika virus, Yellow fever and whatever a mosquito transmits. Perhaps the fact that mosquitoes feed on human blood is the reason they are the most dangerous animals on earth. But think about it this way, Mosquitoes have incredible sensory organs that they can smell humans as far as 100 meters away. Mosquitoes can tell the difference between two family members, based on what they produce from their breath, skin, sweat and body odor.

What we have done at Noobites is to identify and cut-off human scent from mosquitoes. Once we identified these, we created a blend of synthetic substance and embedded it on clothes.

This new format is much more practical for African settings than existing commercial products with the same active ingredient, because it does not require combustion, like mosquito coils or electric, like powered emanators. It is also much more affordable because it protects people against biting vectors for several months at a time, as compared to hours, days, or at best weeks for available commercial repellent products. However, the physical format used experimentally would be inconvenient for routine use. Clothes are an important component of human being in Africa and elsewhere. By targeting clothes, we believe that we can dramatically improve on disease control even in low-income communities.