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 by two :fr:Fondation 2ie|Institut International d'Ingénierie de l'Eau et de l'Environnement students-turned-entrepreneurs, Moctar Dembélé, from Burkina Faso, and Gérard Niyondiko, from Burundi.

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. The soap's purpose is to leave an insect-repelling odor on the user's skin after washing.
The intent is to repel mosquitoes and thus prevent mosquito bites that can transmit diseases such as malaria, chikungunya, yellow fever, or dengue.
In April 2016, a crowd funding campaign was initiated in order to finance large-scale testing of the product and an amount of over 70,000 Euros was reportedly collected.

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 skin." A program headed by the director of the Johns Hopkins graduate program, Dr. Soumyadipta Acharya, uses "shorter-lived" compounds that can "comfortably reside in skin," such as permethrin, in its soap.