ABSTRACT
From 2012 to 2023, the Malaria Research and Training Center (MRTC), based out of the University of Sciences, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako (USTTB), was part of the Target Malaria research consortium working towards developing novel gene drive-based tools for controlling populations of malaria vector mosquitoes. As part of this work, Target Malaria Mali has undertaken a range of in-depth engagement activities with the communities where their research is conducted and with other stakeholders nationally. These activities were meant to ensure that the project's activities took place with the agreement of those communities, and that those communities were able to play a role in shaping the project's approach to ensure that its eventual outcomes were in line with their needs and concerns. This paper aims to conduct a critical assessment of those 10 years of stakeholder engagement in order to identify good practices which can inform future engagement work on gene drive research in West Africa. It sets out a range of approaches and practices that enabled the Target Malaria Mali team to engage a variety of stakeholders, to share information, collect feedback, and determine community agreement, in a manner that was inclusive, effective, and culturally appropriate. These can be useful tools for those working on gene drive research and other area-wide vector control methods in West African contexts to ensure that their research is aligned with the interests of the communities who are intended to be its ultimate beneficiaries, and to allow those communities to play a meaningful role in the research process.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Since the late 1990s, malaria control programmes have relied extensively on mass bednet distribution and indoor residual spraying. Both interventions use pesticides and target mosquitoes coming indoors either to feed or to rest. Unfortunately, these intensified vector control campaigns have resulted in mosquito populations with high levels of resistance to most of the chemical compounds used against them and which are increasingly exophagic and exophillic, hence difficult to monitor indoors. Consequently, there is an urgent need for novel tools to sample outdoor anopheline populations for monitoring interventions and disease surveillance programmes. METHODOLOGIES: In this study, we tested several modifications and configurations of the BioGents® Sentinel (BGS) trap, designed with the aim to increase its efficacy for sampling malaria vector species. Traps were used with chemical attractants and CO2, and the impacts of trap position, trap colour contrast combination and the addition of a heat source were tested in two studies conducted in the Sudano-Sahelian region of Burkina Faso and Mali. RESULTS: The results show that of all the configurations tested, the addition of a heat source to the BGS trap with the original colour combination and an upward positioning resulted in a 1.8- and 5.9-fold increase in host-seeking Anopheles gambiae (s.l.) females in the experiments performed in Burkina Faso and Mali, respectively. BGS with heat traps, referred to as BGSH traps, captured An. gambiae (s.l.), An. pharoensis, An. coustani, Culex and Mansonia spp. Importantly, the results suggest that their efficacy does not depend on the close proximity of nearby hosts in houses. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that BGSH traps can be an effective scalable tool for sampling outdoor anopheline vector populations. Further developments enabling CO2 and heat generation for longer periods of time would further improve the trap's versatility for large-scale surveillance programmes.
