UK - Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)

NIHR Global Health Research Group on improving fitness to face arboviral outbreaks in West Africa

Project disclaimer

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Description

Dengue and other viruses transmitted by the mosquito 'Aedes aegypti' are a growing problem in West Africa, with increasingly frequent outbreaks. Control of the mosquito is the most effective way to protect humans. This project, which will run from 2024 to 2028, is based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, where regular dengue epidemics have occurred in recent years. To carry out the research project, we have formed a collaboration between Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM, UK), Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo (Burkina Faso), Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé – Direction Régionale de l'Ouest (Burkina Faso), Spanish National Research Council (Spain), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (France), University of Glasgow (UK) and King's College London (UK). We propose to develop a community-based approach for arbovirus outbreak prevention and response. We will collect data on the abundance and distribution of Aedes aegypti in different environments, their genetics and behaviour, human exposure to bites and circulating virus levels to model the forces governing dengue dynamics and to develop an improved index for virus transmission risk. Additional work will test the effectiveness of digital surveillance of mosquitoes using a mobile app to determine a potential role for citizen science. Trials will be conducted of different tools to control adult mosquitoes and immatures, including a large-scale community-embedded programme to determine the effectiveness of reducing mosquito breeding sources. Capacity building is embedded throughout, with the aim of developing skills in trial design and analysis, social science, community-based programme development and implementation, genetic diagnostics and genomics, serosurveillance, entomology and statistical modelling. Community engagement and involvement activities will play a crucial role throughout the project activities and have a dedicated work package supported by researchers based both in Burkina Faso and in Northern partner institutes. We believe that new evidence on arbovirus epidemiology in sub-Saharan Africa and a new generation of local specialists is urgently needed to fill the skills gaps from the bottom upwards and to equip African health systems with the experience, knowledge, and motivation to respond effectively to arbovirus outbreaks.

Objectives

The project has 5 objectives: 1. To develop improved indices for estimating arbovirus transmission risk through integrated modelling of adult Aedes aegypti abundance, distribution, and behavior, including factors such as genomic admixture, environmental covariables, human behavior, immunological biomarkers, and mosquito biting patterns. 2. To implement community-based surveillance for immature mosquito development sites, adult occurrence, and perceptions of mosquito biting using the Mosquito Alert mobile app, while cross-validating data through entomological monitoring of adult mosquitoes and larval sites, as well as bite biomarkers. 3. To conduct community-embedded interventions that include a large-scale cluster randomised controlled trial focused on larval source management and a phased suite of adult-targeted interventions tailored to local Aedes aegypti bionomics, culminating in a household-level randomised controlled trial of the most effective intervention strategies. 4. To enhance the capacity of researchers from Burkina Faso and extend this capacity to the wider West African region by integrating PhD topics within all project activities, along with outreach initiatives aimed at the broader West African research and vector control community. 5. To explore the interactions between human behaviour and mosquito biology, empowering citizens with knowledge and practical skills for mosquito control, thereby facilitating the successful implementation of relevant activities.

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Location

The country, countries or regions that benefit from this Programme.

Burkina Faso