In the recent past the Highlands of East Africa have experienced a resurgence in malaria as a result of rising temperatures caused by global warming and environmental degradation. For instance, in the Western Highlands of Kenya, an important socio-economic activity is brick-making. However, the landscape is littered with abandoned brick-making pits that, according to icipe research, are prime breeding sites for mosquitoes, with the children of the brick-making communities often being the first victims of the deadly disease. Simple participatory environmental management interventions and larviciding with bio-pesticides can substantially reduce the malaria burden for the communities.

Introduction

icipe's human health research focuses on anopheline mosquitoes, which transmit the malaria parasite. Malaria is the tropics' most serious infectious disease, affecting more than 500 million people yearly, 3 million of whom die from the disease. Its effective and sustainable control in most parts of the tropics cannot be realistically accomplished without new tools and approaches for fighting both the parasites and the mosquito vectors.

Vector control and treatment methods previously effective in controlling malaria are now largely ineffective due to the growing prevalence of insecticide-resistant mosquitoes and drug-resistant parasites. Resistance to anti-malarials is emerging and spreading faster than new drugs are being developed and deployed. Thus, there is need for the development of new control methods that can supplement the mosquito-killing measures that currently target mainly the adult insects.

Objectives

The overall goal of icipe's research in human health is to contribute to the reduction of malaria and other vector-borne diseases by developing tools and strategies that control the vectors and break the cycle of transmission and that can be integrated with disease management efforts. The focus is on mosquito ecology, mosquito behaviour and malaria transmission, with emphasis on developing new tools for integrated malaria control that go beyond bednets and traditional insecticide-based approaches.

The human health research activities fall under four main programmes:

• The African Malaria Vectors Research Programme, which deals with the ecology and behaviour of anopheline mosquitoes;
• The Botanicals for Malaria Control Programme, which focuses on plant-derived products for mosquito and malaria control;
• The Eritrea National Malaria Control Programme, which aims to improve national capacity for vector control and environmental management, resulting in more effective and more efficient actions to control vector populations and reduce human-to-vector contact;
• The Agroecosystem Management in the Mwea Rice Irrigation Scheme, whose overall goal is improve the health and well-being of communities in irrigation schemes through developing sustainable strategies for reduction of malaria and other health risks based on improved agroecosystem management.

Highlights 2004 - 2005

• Community-powered malaria management
• New weapons for the malaria wars
• Discovering the mosquito's fatal attaction
• Molecular manipulation
• Answers from Artemesia

Publication: Let us Fight Malaria

Malaria is one of the major disease burdens worldwide. It causes about 400-900 million cases of fever and approximately one to three million deaths annually.

Download "Let us Fight Malaria" Publication (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Posted on March 17^th 2008