The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE: http://www.icipe.org/) is involved as a key technical partner in ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of house-screening and winter-larviciding in the context of integrated vector management (IVM) for sustainable malaria control in six southern African countries: Namibia, Botswana, The Kingdom of Eswatini, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It is hypothesised that these interventions if added to existing vector control interventions, particularly the use of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINS) and indoor residual spraying (IRS), will further reduce Anopheles mosquito densities and malaria incidence towards malaria elimination in the project countries. The IVM evaluation experiments constitute a major component of the larger project "Demonstration of effectiveness of diversified, environmentally sound and sustainable interventions, and strengthening national capacity for innovative implementation of integrated vector management (IVM) for disease prevention and control in the WHO AFRO Region (AFRO II Project)".
The AFRO II project also presents opportunities for evaluating new and innovative vector control tools, especially for sampling larval and adult mosquitoes in the field and for aquatic habitat mapping. Towards this end, ICIPE is collaborating with LUMIN8 to evaluate a new solar powered light trap (Silver bullet 2.0) in The Kingdom of Eswatini, and later in Botswana. This collaborative research will help establish under field conditions whether Silver bullet 2.0 is potentially a more practical and effective tool for collection of adult mosquitoes indoors and outdoors when compared to currently available sampling methods.
LUMIN8 is a South African company developing and manufacturing technology solutions for Malaria control. They work with various research institutions and organizations locally and globally and focus strongly on the implementation and commercialization of life changing products. LUMIN8 believes that collaborations are necessary between all principles of life and organizations to really impact the lives of people.
More info can be found at www.lumin8.co.za, or contact at info@lumin8.co.za
