U.S. Global Malaria Coordinator Visits Côte d’Ivoire

This week’s Fist Bump goes to the PMI VectorLink Côte d’Ivoire team, who had an exciting visitor last week. The U.S. Global Malaria Coordinator Dr. David Walton was in Côte d’Ivoire from March 13 to 19, and got to see the team’s activities, which included a visit to the renovated insectary at the Institut National d’Hygiene Publique (INHP).

Professor Joseph Benie Bi Vroh, INHP director, welcomed Dr. Walton and his delegation—which included Dr. Eric Tongren, PMI Community Team Co-Leader, CDC Atlanta; representatives from the PMI Côte d’Ivoire mission; and NMCP staff—and thanked the U.S. government for their support in renovating the insectary. Professor Lucien Konan, lead entomologist at INHP, then gave a brief presentation on the insectary, using pictures from before and after the renovation. He highlighted key benefits of the new facility, which has four separate rooms for mosquito rearing—each room for a specific strain of mosquito, as well as an entomology laboratory and additional rooms for housing mosquito populations.

Dr. Walton then visited the insectary, entering each room and observing mosquito larvae and adult cages. He congratulated the team for this huge accomplishment to facilitate entomological work that meets WHO standards, helps prevent and respond to vector borne disease outbreaks, and moves Côte d’Ivoire forward in the fight against malaria.

On Friday March 17, the VL Côte d’Ivoire team gave a brief presentation on the objectives and challenges of their project activities at a meeting organized by the PMI mission and attended by all PMI implementing partners in country. After a discussion around the challenge of data quality and insecticide resistance along with talk on solutions, Dr. Walton ended the meeting with kind and encouraging words and expressed his satisfaction on the rigorous work done in country through the talented and professional implementing partners.

Sounds like Dr. Walton had a great visit, VL Côte d’Ivoire! Check out our latest video to learn more about the team’s work with INHP!