Faso soap

Faso soap or Fasoap is the brand of a Burkina Faso-manufactured type of soap, in the development stage, which ostensibly repels mosquitoes and thus protects from mosquito-borne diseases.

Origins

Faso soap was developed in 2013[1] by two Institut International d'Ingénierie de l'Eau et de l'Environnement (International Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering) students-turned-entrepreneurs, Moctar Dembélé, from Burkina Faso, and Gérard Niyondiko, from Burundi.[2]

Composition and development

According to its developers, Faso soap is made of shea butter, lemongrass, African marigold and other "natural ingredients" that can be found in Burkina Faso.[2] The soap's purpose is to leave an insect-repelling odor on the user's skin after washing.[3]

The intent is to repel mosquitoes and thus prevent mosquito bites that can transmit diseases such as malaria, chikungunya, yellow fever, or dengue.[3]

In April 2016, a crowd funding campaign was initiated[4] in order to finance large-scale testing of the product and an amount of over 70,000 Euros was reportedly collected.[5]

Awards

In 2013, Fasoap's developers won the first prize in University of California, Berkeley's annual Global Social Venture Competition.

Other soaps

Similar, mosquito-repellent soaps are in development in Johns Hopkins, created to be used instead of "long-lasting, volatile insecticides that could harm [the] skin."[3] A program headed by the director of the Johns Hopkins graduate program, Dr. Soumyadipta Acharya, uses "shorter-lived" compounds that can "comfortably reside in [the] skin," such as permethrin, in its soap.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Faute de financement, le premier savon anti-malaria s’en remet au crowdfunding" ("Without finances, anti-malaria soap turns to crowd funding") by Marion Garreau, Le Monde, 2 March 2016 (in French)
  2. 1 2 "Could this soap stop malaria?" by Jenni Marsh, CNN, 28 September 2016
  3. 1 2 3 4 "How soap, chairs and clothing could stop mosquito bites -- and diseases" by Meera Senthilingam, CNN, 16 February 2017
  4. ↑ "Burkina Faso anti-malaria soap aims to save 100,000 lives by end-2018", MSNBC Africa, 10 May 2016
  5. ↑ "Faso Soap - Un savon pour sauver 100.000 vies". faso-soap.info. Retrieved 2017-02-17.
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