Engaging the women’s associations in Bobo-Dioulasso and the educational community in the Karangasso Sambla district

In the last week of February, the Target Malaria Burkina Faso team held two meetings with the women’s associations of Bobo-Dioulasso and the educational community in the Karangasso Sambla district on the fight against malaria. 

The objective of these meetings was to inform these key stakeholders about research into genetic modification technology as a complementary vector control tool in the fight to eliminate malaria in Burkina Faso. 

Meeting with women’s associations 

Around sixty women’s associations from the city of Bobo-Dioulasso took part in this exchange and information workshop. In a well-structured presentation, the participants were reminded of the state of malaria in Burkina Faso, which according to the statistics continues to be a major public health problem, and of the need to find new ways of combating it. 

Women play a fundamental role in society; their involvement in the fight against malaria is a key factor for success. 

“In keeping with its values of dialogue and transparency, the project is continuing its various meetings with all sectors of society in Burkina Faso to inform the communities about the project’s current status, its progress to date and its prospects for the future.”

Korotimi Bayala, Stakeholder Engagement Officer 

In keeping with its values of dialogue and transparency, the project is continuing its various meetings with all sectors of society in Burkina Faso to inform the communities about the project’s current status, its progress to date and its prospects for the future. The leaders of the Bobo-Dioulasso women’s associations expressed their satisfaction with this meeting, and said they were available for future meetings during the implementation of the project. 

Meeting with primary school teachers and educational staff    

A meeting was also held with education officials from the Karangasso Sambla district, which includes Souroukoudinguan, one of the project sites. The meeting was attended by around fifty people from the district, including primary school teachers, school headmasters and officials from the basic education inspectorate. The aim of the meeting was to continue the dialogue and build stakeholders’ knowledge of the research as part of the fight against malaria  

The participants had the opportunity to observe the different stages of development of the mosquito. They were presented with mosquito eggs, nymph larvae and adult mosquitoes and a viewing session of “Voices from the field”, a video series featuring stakeholders closed the meeting.