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Controlling mosquitoes is a vital part of any integrated strategy to fight malaria. Target Malaria team at the laboratory of Professor Andrea Crisanti at Imperial College London has been working on developing novel genetic technologies as a tool to fight the disease and to complement existing vector control methods. Our strategy focuses on decreasing the number of female vector mosquitoes in a population because only females bite and transmit the disease, and their number usually determines population size and transmission rates.

There are two approaches to control the number of mosquitoes in a population. One way is to impact the ability of mosquitoes to reproduce, for instance by generating infertile females. Another method is to unbalance the male-to-female ratio generating a unisexual population leading to collapse. Achieving a male-only mosquito population has been the holy grail of vector control for long time.

We are pleased to announce that the team has been able to generate a driving male-biased sex distorter and eliminate caged populations of Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes. This is the subject of a paper just published in Nature Biotechnology, of which I am proud to be the lead author, entitled “A Male-biased Sex-Distorter Gene Drive for the Human Malaria Vector Anopheles gambiae”.

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Back in 2016, the WHO Strategic Advisory Group on Malaria Eradication (SAGme) received the task to evaluate future scenarios for malaria, including whether it was feasible to eradicate the disease. Few years have passed, and after in-depth analysis and numerous consultations with malaria and health experts, the research outcomes are finally available.

The new report “Malaria eradication: benefits, future scenarios & feasibility” reaffirms WHO’s goal to eliminate the disease and reminds us that a malaria-free world is possible – if all of us commit to it. After considering factors and trends, members of the SAGme reached a consensus: the elimination of the disease would save millions of lives and generate substantial investment return. In terms of the feasibility of eradication, the experts concluded that theoretically no biological (on part of parasite, vector, or human host) or environmental limitations exist to prevent eradication. However, they note that available tools are not sufficient and that new tools must be found to achieve this eradication.

For us at Target Malaria, these findings come with no surprises. Our daily work is motivated by the belief that malaria’s social and economic burden can be eliminated, and that we should do everything in our power to prevent mosquito bites to threaten people’s lives.

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Every April 7, we celebrate World Health Day, which marks the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO). This date has been used to raise awareness of serious health issues worldwide, leading to numerous successful health campaigns throughout the last decades. In 2020, the WHO chose to remind us about the importance of nurses and midwives to keep the world safe and healthy. Also celebrated this week, the World Health Worker Week follows a similar path, recognising the heroic efforts of frontline health professionals.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has now reached almost every corner of the world, and that includes the Target Malaria network of partners, or family as I prefer to think of them. All of our partner sites are affected, and we – as a project – are feeling the impact of the disease in one form or another. The situation is changing on a daily basis, and as a project we need to be ready to adapt and work to ensure the safety of our team members, partners, and other stakeholders involved in project activities. Target Malaria is defined by its people, and our first and foremost concern is their health and safety, we are here to support in any way we can.

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Join us in congratulating Target Malaria team member and Burkina Faso Principal Investigator Dr Abdoulaye Diabaté and his team of eight researchers based in the United States and Burkina Faso for receiving the 2019 Newcomb Cleveland Prize at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

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