Opinion

Ecologists can enable communities to implement malaria vector control in Africa

W Richard Mukabana¹ , Khadija Kannady² , G Michael Kiama² , Jasper N Ijumba³ , Evan M Mathenge¹ , Ibrahim Kiche⁴ , Gamba Nkwengulila³ , Leonard Mboera⁵ , Deo Mtasiwa² , Yoichi Yamagata⁶ , Ingeborg van Schayk⁷ , Bart GJ Knols^8,9 , Steven W Lindsay¹⁰ , Marcia Caldas de Castro¹¹ , Hassan Mshinda¹² , Marcel Tanner¹³ , Ulrike Fillinger^1,10 and Gerry F Killeen^10,12,13

¹  Department of Zoology, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya

²  City Medical Office of Health, Dar es Salaam City Council, Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania

³  Department of Zoology and Marine Biology, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania

⁴  Rusinga Island Child and Family Programme/Christian Children's Fund-Kenya, Rusinga Island, Suba District, Kenya

⁵  National Institute for Medical Research, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

⁶  Japan International Cooperation Agency, Tokyo, Japan

⁷  National Library of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA

⁸  Entomology Unit, FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratory, Seibersdorf, Austria

⁹  Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University & Research Centre, Wageningen, The Netherlands

¹⁰  School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Durham University, Durham, UK

¹¹  Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA

¹²  Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre, Ifakara, United Republic of Tanzania

¹³  Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Swiss Tropical Institute, Basel, Switzerland

author email corresponding author email

Malaria Journal 2006, 5:9doi:10.1186/1475-2875-5-9

Published:	3 February 2006

Abstract

Background

Integrated vector management (IVM) for malaria control requires ecological skills that are very scarce and rarely applied in Africa today. Partnerships between communities and academic ecologists can address this capacity deficit, modernize the evidence base for such approaches and enable future scale up.

Methods

Community-based IVM programmes were initiated in two contrasting settings. On Rusinga Island, Western Kenya, community outreach to a marginalized rural community was achieved by University of Nairobi through a community-based organization. In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Ilala Municipality established an IVM programme at grassroots level, which was subsequently upgraded and expanded into a pilot scale Urban Malaria Control Programme with support from national academic institutes.

Results

Both programmes now access relevant expertise, funding and policy makers while the academic partners benefit from direct experience of community-based implementation and operational research opportunities. The communities now access up-to-date malaria-related knowledge and skills for translation into local action. Similarly, the academic partners have acquired better understanding of community needs and how to address them.

Conclusion

Until sufficient evidence is provided, community-based IVM remains an operational research activity. Researchers can never directly support every community in Africa so community-based IVM strategies and tactics will need to be incorporated into undergraduate teaching programmes to generate sufficient numbers of practitioners for national scale programmes. Academic ecologists at African institutions are uniquely positioned to enable the application of practical environmental and entomological skills for malaria control by communities at grassroots level and should be supported to fulfil this neglected role.