WHO AFRO II DEMO Project: Evaluating the feasibility and impact of community based winter larviciding and house screening on malaria transmission as additional vector control interventions in Southern African countries committed to malaria elimination

Professor Baldwyn Torto, Principal Scientist and Head, Behavioural and Chemical Ecology (BCEU), at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), Kenya, has been awarded the 2019 Agropolis Louis Malassis International Prize for Food and Agriculture, under the Outstanding Career in Agricultural Development category (See: http://www.agropolis-fondation.fr/2019-Agropolis-Louis-Malassis-International-Scientific-Prize-for-Agriculture and http://www.agropolis-fondation.fr/IMG/pdf/press_release_-_2019_winners_lmisp_olam_prize_final.pdf).

icipe Director General, Dr Segenet Kelemu, has been selected a 2019 College of Agriculture Alumni Fellow of Kansas State University, USA. Dr Kelemu earned a PhD in molecular biology and plant pathology from Kansas State University in 1989, after attaining an MSc at Montana State, USA, in 1985, and a Bachelor's degree from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, in 1979.

Researchers at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, have identified chemical odours in specific animal dungs that guide pregnant female stable flies to lay their eggs on the most suitable droppings. This optimum selection facilitates survival of the eggs and the emergence of stronger offsprings, thus ensuring thriving generations of the flies. 

 A conversation...

with students from the International MSc in Agro- & Environmental Nematology, Ghent University, Belgium, who were among the first cohort to undertake industrial training in Kenya in 2018, through a newly established partnership between the University, icipe and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).