By Linda Naa Deide Aryeetey
Accra, Feb. 27, GNA – A Mosquito Ecology Research Facility has been commissioned at the University of Ghana (UG) to aid research into the biology of mosquitoes and their role in the environment.
The facility will help understand the nature of mosquitoes so that effective interventions can be developed, at the consortium level, to reduce female mosquito populations and subsequently, the transmission of malaria.
It aims for the interventions, so developed, to supplement existing approaches to reduce malaria morbidities and mortalities in malaria-endemic countries.
It was established by Target Malaria, a not-for-profit research consortium in partnership with the UG and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Open Philanthropy.
Dr Fred Aboagye-Antwi, the In-country Principal Investigator for Target Malaria, said the infrastructure would enhance mosquito research in a manner consistent with internationally recognized practice.
“The laboratory space will be used to investigate optimal rearing conditions that enhance male mosquito fitness,” he added.
He said Target Malaria would use gene drive approaches to insert a modification in malaria mosquitoes so that over ninety percent of their off-springs are males and since the males do not bite, the incidence of malaria will reduce over time.
Dr. Aboagye-Antwi said, the insectary has an insecticide testing lab to test the effectiveness of various insecticides against malaria-causing mosquitoes.
Dr Samuel Kwaku Dadzie, Senior Research follow in Medical Entomology at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, said Malaria continues to be a public health concern despite the huge investment made in its control.
He said the challenge of insecticide resistance and outdoor transmission threatened to erode success and that the lab would aid advanced research in Ghana and support the vision of having a malaria free Ghana.
The facility, he said, would improve malaria vector research at the University of Ghana and beyond.
Dr Keziah Malm, Programmes Manager for the National Malaria Elimination Programme, said malaria accounted for over 30 per cent of Outpatient Department (OPD) cases and was still the number one cause of OPD attendance.
“Last year, Ghana recorded about five million cases of malaria, which resulted in 400,000 hospital admissions, and 155 deaths,” she said.
Dr Malm said the research into mosquitoes would also help reduce the incidence of other diseases like elephantiasis.
Mosquitoes are common flies that live in most parts of the world. There are 3500 different species world-wide and 837 in Africa. Out of these, Target Malaria is interested in three closely related ones that transmit malaria – Anopheles gambiae, Anopheles coluzzii, and Anopheles arabiensis.
Not all mosquitoes bite people or animals. When mosquitoes bite people, the most common reactions to the bite are itching and swelling.
Only female mosquitoes bite people and animals. When they bite, the most common reactions are itching and swelling.
Female mosquitoes are vectors that spread pathogens through their bites that make people sick.
GNA