Operators in Benin - Photo courtesy Gil Germain Padonou

In 2008, the National Malaria Control Program in Benin implemented a vector control intervention based on indoor residual spraying (IRS). Four districts of high resistance of Anopheles gambiae to pyrethroids were sprayed with bendiocarb. A study out in October in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene shows a drastic decrease in the An. gambiae biting rate in the sprayed areas, and concludes that bendiocarb was found to be a good alternative insecticide for IRS in Benin, in areas where An. gambiaehas developed high resistance to pyrethroids.In a post in the malaria community in GHDonline.org, Gil Germain Padonou, MSc, medical entomologist at the Centre de Recherche Entomologique de Cotonou in Benin and one of the authors of the study, presents some highlights. Padonou has also kindly agreed to field comments on this study in the community (free and easy to join).

We’re also delighted to announce that Michael Reddy of Yale University joins the community as guest moderator to address malaria vector control issues. Most recently, he has been closely involved in an anti-malaria intervention with the Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Health, the Marathon Oil Corporation, Medical Care Development International Inc., as well as academic institutions in the U.S. and UK, notably contributing to the design of an entomological monitoring program to inform anti-vector suppression on Bioko Island and mainland Equatorial Guinea. His main research interests include malaria and arboviral disease ecology, mosquito vector population dynamics, and anti-vector intervention design and implementation.