World Mosquito Day 2023

August 20th was World Mosquito Day!

A landmark day in the calendar, World Mosquito Day is an opportunity to highlight the devastating impact of mosquitoes on global health.?Today, as we face a significant increase in mosquito-borne diseases worldwide, raising awareness and taking collective action is essential to combat this pressing health challenge.

In the run-up to the day, Target Malaria ran a 20 day-long social media campaign on mosquitoes and genetic modification?through the month of August.

To view these posts, you can explore #MosquitoCountdown on Twitter and LinkedIn.?

Why World Mosquito Day? ??

On August 20, 1897,?Sir Ronald Ross?made the discovery that?female?Anopheles?mosquitoes transmit malaria.

To commemorate this moment in history, World Mosquito Day was founded. Each year, this day presents us with an opportunity to raise awareness of the dangers posed by mosquito-borne diseases and the ongoing efforts to combat the world’s deadliest creature.?

Read the blog by Bernard Adams of Target Malaria Ghana University of Ghana to?learn more.

Social media campaign???

This year, Target Malaria?conducted an educational campaign using the hashtag?#MosquitoCountdown,?with a focus on education around genetically modified mosquitoes and gene drive. The campaign consisted of daily posts in both English and French on Twitter and LinkedIn using the #MosquitoCountdown.

These included?polls, #DidYouKnow posts, terminology definitions facts about malaria, genetic modification and gene drive.?

Entomology Explained

Check out our new Entomology Explained videos from our teams in Burkina Faso, Italy and the US!

You can explore the playlist here.

The Target Malaria Burkina Faso Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (Burkina Faso) team engaged with Souroukoudinguan village members during the filming of a documentary about the project, where a?theatre troupe performed a sketch on malaria-carrying mosquitoes. After the performance, team members engaged with children from the community spoke to them about malaria, mosquitoes and how to protect themselves against this disease.

Community Liaison Manager, Linda Aboagye Mawutor , engaged with the local communities of Abutia Amegame and Mafi Agorve, and conducted?interactive sessions highlighting the significance of World Mosquito Day and the need for continued research for new tools to fight mosquito-borne diseases like malaria. The team also engaged with academic and research leaders at the University of Ghana , and took them on a tour of the new insectary.?

The team was also visited by Professor Gordon Awandare and his team in the insectary.

The Target Malaria Uganda Uganda Virus Research Institute team joined other partners to commemorate World Mosquito Day at Entebbe Works Ground, with activities including aerobics, a procession, blood donation, exhibitions and speeches. The Target Malaria team displayed mosquitoes, noting collection methods, the changing behaviours of mosquitoes and the need for more funding to implement current measures.?

Media ??

Professor Abdoulaye Diabaté was featured by RBM Partnership to End Malaria 's Partner Spotlight.

Read his Q&A here.

The Principal Investigator of Target Malaria Ghana, Dr Fred Aboagye-Antwi ,?was featured in a special news segment, on TV3, a television station with national coverage, to commemorate the day.

You can watch the segment here.