Should we be worried about mosquito net fishing?

Insecticide-treated bednets are one of the most effective tools for combating malaria: a disease that still claims hundreds of thousands of lives each year.

In the fight to control its spread, billions of nets have been distributed across malaria-endemic regions. However, controversy has emerged around the use of these nets, due to concerns that people are using them for fishing rather than their intended purpose.

This critique has been circulating for at least a decade, and it’s often the first thing people think of when bednets are mentioned. But is mosquito net fishing really the epidemic it’s made out to be? Should it cause us to question the value of bednet distribution?