Authors

E Ochomo¹;  ¹ Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kenya

Discussion

A quick scan of the world malaria reports in the past decade will tell you a story of despair. Malaria has stagnated and even increased in some places. This despite the recent celebrations of >two billion insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) distributed globally and the billions of dollars invested this far. Multiple reasons are suggested as being responsible for this stagnation; insecticide resistance, changing vector behaviour, changing land use and climate change, invasive vectors, human displacement, urbanization and human behaviour. Appreciating that vector control has been central in all the areas where malaria has been eliminated and was observed to contribute to bulk of the decline between 2000 and 2015, our research focuses on strengthening entomology surveillance and evaluating novel vector control tools. We look at traditional and current approaches such as house modification, larval control, indoor residual spraying (IRS) and ITNs and evaluate novel tools such as spatial repellents, attractive targeted sugar baits, endectocides, next generation ITN and IRS products and genetically modified mosquitoes. These evaluations inform the recommendation of novel vector control tools at World Health Organization (WHO) in addition to contributing to local vector control policy. Additionally, our research focuses on the gaps that vector control needs to fill to ensure a trend in the right direction in the fight against malaria