Improving xenomonitoring for assessing Anopheles-transmitted filariasis after several rounds of mass drug administration to interrupt lymphatic filariasis transmission in Africa

Millicent's interests are in parasitic diseases and vector biology. Through this Fellowship she will undertake an MSc in Biology and Control of Parasites and Disease Vectors, under the supervision of Professor Moses Bockarie and Dr Lisa Reimer at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and Professor Michael D. Wilson and Dr Dziedzom K. de Souza at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Ghana. Molecular xenomonitoring could be useful during the post mass drug administration surveillance phase of lympathic filariasis elimination programmes, but the challenge is related to collection of large numbers of mosquitoes for the results to be of statistical relevance. Millicent’s study therefore seeks to assess the use of gravid traps to collect mosquitoes for xenomonitoring to confirm cessation of transmission in the vectors.

This grant was awarded under the scheme's previous name of Master's Fellowships in Public Health and Tropical Medicine.