Hear stakeholders in the vector control community and EPA discuss and explain the new VERV program.

Hosted by Duke Global Health Institute, Duke Fuqua School of Business and DCLRS.

Date: Wednesday 28 February

Time: 11:00 to 15:00 EST

Location: Duke in DC Office, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 500 (virtual and in person)

PAMCA will be holding its 9th edition of the Annual Conferences & Exhibitions on September 17th-21st, 2023, at the Skylight Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The main theme of this year’s conference is “Reorienting surveillance and management in the context of emerging threats of disease vectors”.

Our ability to combat the global challenges of malaria and other neglected tropical diseases requires the establishment of highly effective and multidimensional partnerships – where science, funding and innovation combine to deliver real impact. IVCC’s 2023 Stakeholder Forum “Working in partnership to deliver vector control solutions” showcases how stakeholders are coming together in unique partnerships to develop and deliver impactful and lifesaving vector control solutions.

Under the conference theme, ‘Working in Partnership to Deliver Vector Control Solutions’, IVCC hosted its first stakeholder conference in four years. It took place in IVCC’s hometown of Liverpool on 3^rd and 4^th October.  IVCC welcomed 130 guests from across our stakeholders and partners to the day and a half long conference at Liverpool’s St George’s Hall.

IVCC was delighted to host Damaris Matoke-Muhia, Principal Research Scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and Chair of the PAMCA Women in Vector Control Programme, as the keynote speaker. During her presentation Damaris outlined some of the key challenges facing malaria elimination and eradication as we approach 2030: insecticide resistance, climate change, increased outdoor biting and the rise of invasive species. Damaris called for continued innovation of vector control tools, as current interventions alone won’t deliver on the WHO’s target for reducing global malaria incidence and mortality rates by at least 90%. At the same time, Damaris highlighted the importance of developing tools with endemic communities in mind. Too often, the usability of interventions isn’t sufficiently considered, meaning communities find the tools too hard to use, take care of and not fit for their living conditions. In her closing remarks, Damaris emphasised that malaria elimination targets will not be met unless there is leadership that represents pluralism within society. In addition, she encouraged the malaria community to consider an approach of multidisciplinary and capacity sharing – which more overtly recognizes the contribution of all collaborators learning from one another – when tackling the challenges that lie ahead. (A recording of Damaris’ presentation can be found here).

IVCC’s programme for the day was filled with a series of panel discussions and presentations from a range of distinguished guests drawn from all corners of the malaria community, including funders, industry, academia and regulators.  As well as valuable networking time, attendees were also able to view an extensive scientific poster programme.

On day one of the conference, attendees were also invited to a very special conference dinner at St George’s iconic Great Hall. The Hall provided a stunning, historic backdrop to an evening of networking over dinner whilst guests were treated to an organ performance by City and Cathedral Organist, Ian Tracey.

The second day of the event also included a panel discussion and two session, one focused on equity, diversity and inclusion in vector control product development.  A series of inspiring and thought-provoking sessions ensured that key challenges were discussed and debated, while key achievements were also appropriately recognised.  IVCC would like to thank all participants for making our Stakeholder conference a highly engaging and successful event.

IVCC is delighted to take part in the upcoming Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (ASTMH) in Chicago, USA from 18th to 22nd October.

David McGuire, IVCC’s Director of Access and Market Shaping, will present an overview of vector control for malaria elimination during the Alan J. Magill Malaria Eradication Symposium: Using Vector Control to Advance Malaria Elimination, on Thursday 19th October, starting at 10:15* (Grand Ballroom CDEF – Ballroom Level (East Tower)).

Led by IVCC, the New Nets Project (NNP) piloted new tools to strengthen the insecticide-treated net (ITN) market. At ASTMH, NNP Partners** will present evaluations of new, insecticide-treated net products meta-analysis of observational studies, and economic evaluations from five sub-Saharan African settings.

Supported by IVCC, Project BITE*** (Bite Interruption Toward Elimination) aims to create a toolbox of vector control products to address malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases in the Indo-Pacific Region. Hear about the most recent project findings during Symposium 43 and hear about the latest thinking when it comes to locations where traditional epidemiological data, via a randomized controlled trial or other form of study, is not practical.

Other presentations will touch on a range of IVCC projects, see the full list below. There are poster presentations, as well as oral presentations.

Sessions:
148 – Malaria – Prevention I, October 22, 2023, 08:00 to 09:45, Grand Ballroom B – Ballroom Level (East Tower). Do Attractive Targeted Sugar Bait (ATSB) stations reduce malaria burden in Zambia? First results from a Phase III community-randomized efficacy trial of ATSB in Western Province, Zambia (Abstract #7201).

158 – Mosquitoes – Epidemiology and Vector Control I, October 22, 2023, 08:00 to 09:45, Regency Ballroom C – Ballroom Level (West Tower). The IVCC supported project, iDEM presents The impact of integrated vector management on the incidence of dengue in urban Malaysia: the iDEM cluster-randomized controlled trial (Abstract #7224, presented by Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine).

162 – Malaria Prevention II, October 22, 2023, 11:30 to 13:15, Grand Ballroom B – Ballroom Level (East Tower). We recommend the full symposia and highlight the talk by IVCC collaborator, Joshua Yukich at 13:00 on Evaluation of new, insecticide-treated net products, meta-analysis of observational studies, and economic evaluations from five sub-Saharan African settings (Abstract # 7242)

Symposia:
43 – Targeting “Gaps in Protection” to Prevent Malaria in Hard to Reach Communities: A Staged Approach to Test New Vector – Control Tools, and Insights Toward Future Evaluation, October 19, 2023, 15:00 to 16:45.

Posters:
5951: Residual bio-efficacy of Attractive Targeted Sugar Bait stations targeting malaria vectors during seasonal deployment in Western province, Zambia (presented by Macha Research Trust, Choma, Zambia, October 20, Riverside Centre – Exhibit Level (East Tower) and Grand Hall GHI)

Find out more about the 2023 Annual ASTMH Meeting online, including the full conference programme, details about keynote speakers, the event’s sponsors, and exhibitors.

*All times shown are given in Central Daylight Time (CDT), the local time zone (Chicago is GMT -5h).

** NNP implementation partners are: The Alliance for Malaria Prevention, Imperial College London, LSTM, LSTMH, PATH, PSI and Tulane University. NNP Industry partners are: BASF and DCT (Disease Control Technologies). NNP Funding partners are: Unitaid and The Global Fund. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, along with USAID are supporting partners.

***Project BITE partners are UCSF Global Health Group’s Malaria Elimination Initiative.