Project Title: Learning to Eliminate Dominant Malaria Vectors
Project Description: Understanding the ecological vulnerabilities of dominant malaria vector species is vital for combating malaria transmission, suppressing local populations of the vectors, and sustaining elimination. Specific interventions can be selected to target these vulnerabilities in ways that achieve sustainable control [6]. There are already several examples of specific malaria vector species disappearing, either briefly or for several years from specific localities after deliberate interventions. These include the disappearance of An. funestus from South Africa following DDT... Understanding the ecological vulnerabilities of dominant malaria vector species is vital for combating malaria transmission, suppressing local populations of the vectors, and sustaining elimination. Specific interventions can be selected to target these vulnerabilities in ways that achieve sustainable control [6]. There are already several examples of specific malaria vector species disappearing, either briefly or for several years from specific localities after deliberate interventions. These include the disappearance of An. funestus from South Africa following DDT spraying, and from the Pare Taveta area in northern Tanzania in the 1950s and 60s following IRS with dieldrin. More recently, large declines and apparent disappearance of An. gambiae ss have been observed in some parts of East Africa following the scale-up of ITNs. Unfortunately, we do not currently understand the inherent stability of dominant vector populations and their resilience to disturbance - whether arising through interventions, climate, other environmental changes or their interactions. We also do not understand the full suite of factors (biological, environmental or intervention-related) that might be responsible for the local disappearance of a vector species; or how we could accelerate such local “extinctions” to drastically reduce malaria transmission in other settings through strategic exploitation of similar driving factors. We therefore propose to establish a multidisciplinary framework to examine the feasibility of targeting and eliminating certain predominant Anopheles species from specific localities. This framework will integrate entomological studies, quantitative ecology, mathematical/statistical modeling and anthropological studies. In addition to conducting targeted field studies, we aim to utilize long-term field-derived datasets on vector dynamics, behaviors and life histories to understand both the drivers and indicators of vector population declines. These datasets will serve as the foundation for developing a comprehensive spatio-temporal model of vector population dynamics, which will be used to analyze the stability and vulnerabilities of key vector populations against perturbations associated with climate, land use or deliberate vector control interventions, considering the probability of local species elimination as an outcome. Ultimately, we seek to learn how to accelerate or cause the elimination of selected vector species from different localities. The project is designed to understand what factors drive vector elimination, how declining populations can be monitored, and which deliberate interventions can accelerate the elimination process, in an ecologically responsible way.
Principal Investigator : Najat Kahamba
Department Name :
Time frame: (2023-11-29) - (2026-10-31)
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) (Normal)
External Collaborating Partners
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