Small-scale release of non-gene drive mosquitoes in Burkina Faso: from engagement implementation to assessment, a learning journey
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Date
2021-10-09
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Malaria Journal
Abstract
Background: Innovative tools are needed to complement the existing approach for malaria elimination. Gene drive
mosquitoes are one potential new technology in the control of malaria vectors. Target Malaria is one of the research
projects developing this technology, and in July 2019, the project proceeded to an important step for this evaluation
pathway: the small-scale release of non-gene drive sterile male mosquitoes in a village in Burkina Faso. In addition to
the entomological and laboratory work to prepare for this important milestone, significant community and stake holder engagement work was done. The existing guidelines on gene drive mosquito provide an overall framework for
such engagement work. However, they do not provide a road map on how to proceed or what benchmarks should
be used to assess this work.
Methods: This study provides a review of engagement activities relevant to field trials on non-gene drive genetically modified mosquitoes as well as an assessment framework—using both qualitative and quantitative studies as well
as an audit procedure. The latter was implemented to evaluate whether the release activities could proceed with the
appropriate level of agreement from the community.
Results: This paper shows the importance of this first phase of work to innovate and learn about engagement
processes for responsible research in the field of genetic approaches for malaria vector control. The function of these
assessments is crucial for the learning agenda. The assessments demonstrated ways to increase understanding and
ensure effective progress with field studies and, therefore, the pathway for responsible research.
Conclusion: Gene drive technology is increasingly considered as a promising approach to control vector borne
diseases, in particular malaria. Stakeholders’ involvement in this research process is one of the recurring requirements
in international guidance documents. With this paper Target Malaria offers an opportunity to explore the practical
achievements and challenges of stakeholder engagement during early phases of a technology evaluation, and in
particular how it implemented an assessment framework to learn from its experience.
Description
Keywords
Malaria, Genetically modifed mosquitoes release, Gene drive, Stakeholder engagement, Responsible research, Evaluation, Audit, Souleymane Kekele, Wilfrid Meda, Burkina Faso, Université Nazi Boni, CEA-ITECH_MTV, ACE: Bio-technological Innovation for the Elimination of Vector- Borne Diseases