Mosquitoes kill more people than any other animal on the planet . According to the World Malaria Report (2023) , the African continent bears the brunt of the most deadly mosquito-borne disease, malaria. Africa has 94% of the cases and 95% of the deaths.
One tool that’s being considered in the fight against malaria is genetic modification. Several research projects around the world are looking to use genetically modified mosquitoes to stop the spread of malaria in Africa. Abdoulaye Diabaté, a medical entomologist from Burkina Faso and world leading malaria researcher, is at the forefront of some of this work.
He shares insights into how the technology operates and the research he’s working on. What drove you to focus your work on malaria? I was born in N’Dorola, a province in western Burkina Faso, where malaria comes back every rainy season. Malaria is endemic and all the population is at risk of getting infected.
I was lucky to survive malaria when I was three years old; unfortunately two of my close cousins did not. Most families in Africa will have, or know of, a tragic malaria story. The region carries a high share of the global malaria burden.
There were half a million deaths in Africa in 2022, with children and pregnant women most at risk of infection and death. A child dies from malaria every minute . This is a major reason I do the work I do.
I lead the Target Malaria team – a research consortium aimed at reducing the population of malaria-transmitting mosqui.