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Solution name: MAÏA
Gérard Niyondiko
Major Infectious Diseases
Product or technological
MVP
Rural
Research shows that Malaria kills one person every two minutes in Africa, primarily women and children. After years of consecutive decline, the number of Malaria cases has been on the rise since 2015. Malaria-carrying mosquitoes are now more resistant to insecticides that are used on bed nets which has been a common preventative measure in recent years. These mosquitoes are also infecting people outdoors and earlier in the evening and the World Health Organisation has indicated that tools are needed for protection of people when they are outside of their homes.
Gérard Niyondiko is an engineer and a social entrepreneur with studies in Chemistry. He has his own personal story about how Malaria has affected his life and family which led him to explore ways to combat this disease. In Burkina Faso, 80% of women and children use ointment everyday much more in the evening when mosquitoes start to spread malaria. Maïa Africa SAS’s goal is to protect these individuals from Malaria with the MAÏA solution. This solution is the first long-lasting mosquito-repellent ointment which has been developed with the Malaria Research and Training Center in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. MAÏA is the first vector control tool designed in Africa with both Malaria experts and local women with a focus to protect vulnerable people by leveraging their daily habits. A key factor to make it efficient, safe, affordable for daily use. Maïa Africa SAS are launching the MAÏA ointment through a network of female resellers recruited through microfinance organisations, that in turn support job creation, using mobile technology to make it easy for the illiterate female sellers to sell in their communities. The goal is to protect 20,000 people in the outlying areas of Ouagadougou over the course of 2019.