Targeting strongly insecticide-resistant Anopheles funestus by using attractive toxic sugar baits

Malaria is a disease transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes. Despite much effort, existing control tools have not been able to eliminate the disease. There is a need for new methods that kill mosquitoes and protect all people in the community, working synergistically with existing tools. Attractive toxic sugar bait (ATSB) is a new control tool shown to control some malaria vectors by putting an insecticide in sugar pads that mosquitoes feed on.

I will see if ATSB developed for one species will kill a different species, reducing the number of mosquitoes that transmit malaria in southern Tanzania. I will first study the mosquitoes to know their numbers and locations then I will put ATSB in homes to see if the target mosquito feeds on it and if it kills mosquitoes in the large numbers needed to control malaria.

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