Improving Decision-Making for Optimal Malaria Control Impact

Corine Ngufor of the Centre de Recherche Entomologique de Cotonou in Benin will evaluate insecticide-based strategies that can complement insecticide-treated bed nets for improved malaria control. In the laboratory, they will test the killing ability of combinations of insecticides, using pyrethroid-susceptible as well as pyrethroid-resistant laboratory-maintained mosquitoes. In experimental hut trials, they will test different strategies, including a combination of a spatial repellent (a transfluthrin passive emanator) with dual active-ingredient bed nets that are two years into their three-year product lifespan. They will also use hut trials with controlled release of insecticide-susceptible and -resistant mosquitoes to determine how different strategies are affected by resistance and by environmental factors such as temperature and humidity. Data modeling will be performed to assess the relative importance of different variables, helping identify the most effective insecticide-based strategies to accomplish malaria control goals.