Crown Agents has extensive experience in the specification, procurement and quality assurance of bednets, including long lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs), untreated nets and re-treatment kits in tablet form. Our involvement in early programmes demonstrated that the supply market lacked consistency and widely accepted standard specifications.
Bednets are complex textile products which are often subject to substantial variation in the materials used in their construction, and with a significant degree of interpretation in their specification. As a result, it is often difficult for clients to define their requirements in terms that manufacturers can understand. Assuring the quality of bednets has become increasingly important in recent years, given the rising demand for bednets, which is placing growing pressure on production capacity amongst the limited group of World Health Organization Pesticide Evaluation Scheme recommended suppliers.
As a result of working with a wide range of clients and manufacturers, we have evolved our own bednet specifications and have been closely involved in the development and introduction of inspection processes and procedures to assure the quality of bednets.
Crown Agents' quality assurance services include:
- factory appraisals/audits/prequalification;
- physical inspection (with agreed acceptance and rejection criteria);
- sampling; and
- laboratory testing at specialist independent laboratories.
These interventions have led to an improvement in the quality of the nets produced by many of the major manufacturers, ensuring that the nets meet the International Standards Organization (ISO) criteria together with programme specifications.
Occasionally the inspections of pre-production net samples reveal a number of quality issues. Our inspectors are able to work with the manufacturers to ensure these issues are addressed during manufacture and that the final products supplied are fully compliant with the contractual specification and World Health Organization standards. As a result the final nets complied with the specification, passed final inspection and quality assurance tests, and most importantly fulfilled the client's requirements.
Crown Agents has ongoing contracts with United Nations International Children's Fund and Population Services International (PSI) for independent sampling, inspection and testing of bednets. We have also provided extensive technical advice to WHO's Global Malaria Programme on bednet supply, including developing specifications and guidelines for procurement and quality control of (LLINs).
In 2009, Crown Agents assured the quality of over 33 million bednets and visited factories in China, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, India and Tanzania.