ECOWAS Program to Eradicate Malaria

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QUESTION
Why can I find no mention on your website of the ECOWAS program to eradicate malaria in their countries?

ANSWER
Thanks for bringing up ECOWAS. Since 2011, ECOWAS leaders have signaled a commitment to eradicating malaria in their region by 2015, and pilot programs are already underway in several countries, including Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Ghana. The program has centered on the use of larvicides for control of mosquito populations, thus reducing transmission. In April 2012, ECOWAS signed an agreement with Cuba in order to revitalize joint efforts to eradicate malaria in both West Africa as well as the Caribbean island. Soon after, Venezuela entered the agreement, pledging $20 million to the cause. These funds
will help support the construction of manufacturing facilities for biolarvicides in Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, among other things.

In August, the Commissioner of ECOWAS emphasized the need for community engagement in the fight against malaria. A road map for measuring future progress was also drawn up by health advisers from the region; the next high-level ministerial meeting to evaluate the program will take place in West Africa, and will likely include Cuban and Venezuealan partners, in December 2012.

WHO recommends that Larviciding is indicated only for vectors which tend to breed in permanent or semi-permanent water bodies that can be identified and treated, and where the density of the human population to be protected is sufficiently high to justify the treatment with relatively short cycles of all breeding places.

Malaria Eradication and Water Quality

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QUESTION:

How will the eradication process of the mosquito larva influence the quality of the water?

ANSWER:

That’s a very interesting question. The answer is that it depends a lot on the way in which the mosquito larva are controlled. The usual, traditional method is through the application of insecticides. Many of these are known to have severe negative effects on water quality, particularly through being non-selectively toxic and therefore killing lots of other aquatic life as well as the mosquitoes. Moreover, some are known for their effects on animals further up the foodchain; the most famous example of this being DDT, which was used to kill adult mosquitoes. It was discovered that this pesticide resulted in birds laying eggs that had very thin shells, preventing the chicks from hatching successfully. As such, it was banned in most developed countries. Modern insecticides used for mosquito larva reduction have been developed to target mosquitoes specifically; a popular one in the USA is methoprene, which interferes with the mosquitoes’ growth hormones, preventing development into adults. Microbial compounds, which are not dangerous to other organisms, are also sometimes used.

Another approach is through the use of natural enemies of the mosquito larvae, notably certain species of fish and dragonflies. These will eat mosquito larvae and pupae, thus naturally reducing numbers, and with little undue effect on water quality (although in some contexts, such as reservoir water, there may be concerns with stocking the water source with large numbers of fish).