Last Updated: 30/09/2026
AFRO II project: Evaluating the feasibility and impact on malaria transmission of community-based winter larviciding in Namibia, Botswana and Eswatini
Objectives
To evaluate the feasibility and impact of community-based winter larviciding using biological agent Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti; VectoBac®) on malaria transmission in southern African countries aiming for malaria elimination.
Specific objectives:
• To assess whether winter larviciding combined with IRS prior to the rainy season reduces vector adult density inside and outside houses when compared with IRS alone
• To assess whether winter larviciding combined with IRS prior to the rainy season provides added protection against clinical malaria when compared with areas that receive IRS alone
• To determine whether the combined interventions reduce the proportion of aquatic habitats containing Anopheles larvae not only during the intervention but also when larviciding is not implemented (spill-over effect, synergistic effect with IRS)
International centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), Kenya
According to recent WHO reports, insecticide resistance has now been identified in 64 countries, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa. In some areas the resistance problem is widespread and has been reported for all the four classes of insecticides approved by WHO for public health use. Beyond the challenge posed by insecticide resistance, controlling malaria-transmitting mosquitoes almost entirely using synthetic insecticides is also unsustainable in view of the latter’s potential negative impacts on both human health and the environment (Eskenazi et al, 2009). With regard to tackling residual transmission, it is becoming increasingly clear that in order to further reduce vector densities from the low levels currently achieved with LLINs or IRS to lower levels that may lead to faster and sustainable elimination of parasite transmission, the two primary interventions will need to be augmented with additional interventions, for example larval source management to reduce emergence of adult mosquitoes (Tusting et al 2015).
PACTR202008664678160
Intervention assignment: Parallel (different groups receive different interventions at same time during study).
Allocation to intervention: Randomised (simple randomization using a table created by a computer software program).
How the sequence/code was concealed from the person allocating the participants to the intervention arms: Determined by the holder of the sequence who is situated off site.
Masking: Open-label (Masking Not Used)
Jan 2017 — Dec 2021
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