RBM Vector Control Working Group 2025 meeting in Cotonou 

The 20th meeting of the RBM Vector Control Working Group (VCWG) took place last week in Cotonou, Benin.

The VCWG gives advice and guidance to vector control researchers and practitioners regarding best practices in using established and novel vector control tools, and gives a forum for discussing the direction in which the field should be moving. The annual meeting brings together researchers, funders and members of National Malaria Control Programs (NMCPs) to share research updates, national strategies, and the latest results of field trials.  

This year over 40 countries were represented, with 220 in-person attendees. Due to the sudden removal of funding from many programs, there were only two representatives from NMCPs, and few funders were in attendance. Many presentations and updates were given online. 

Gene drive was on the agenda, with a presentation by Dickson Wilson Lwetoijera from the Transmission Zero project. Dickson showed the latest results of laboratory testing of their anti-microbial genetic modification, and demonstrated how this will later be coupled with a gene drive for effective spread in wild mosquito populations. In other talks and discussions the need for new tools and innovations was repeatedly mentioned. 

The meeting was overshadowed by the sudden end of USAID and in particular the President’s Malaria Initiative which funded malaria surveillance and many malaria control initiatives. Several participants stressed the importance of increasing malaria advocacy over coming months. 

Another related theme with potential relevance to Target Malaria was the need to move towards local solutions for malaria, such as community run programs and in-Africa manufacturing of vector control tools. In future, innovative vector control methods could help to reduce the current reliance on imported tools and raw materials.