Historically the control of Gambian Human African Trypanosomiasis (g-HAT) relied on case detection and treatment and vector control did not play a significant role as available methods were not cost-effective. This led to an initiative by LSTM and international partners to develop new, low cost tsetse control methods which resulted in the Tiny Target. Vector control is now a named tool in the WHO strategy for eliminating g-HAT and Tiny Targets are being used on a large scale across five countries which together account for over 80% of all g-HAT cases reported from 2009-2018.
Andrew will talk about the research that led to the development of Tiny Targets and then show how the technology has been quickly adopted and scaled up in the field, and the impact Tiny Targets are having.
Andrew has been working on tsetse control at LSTM since 2016 and is currently employed as a Programme Manager overseeing the implementation of Tiny Target projects in DRC and Uganda.
Prior to working at LSTM Andrew worked for NGOs in Central African Republic and South Sudan on a number of different malaria control projects. He has a PhD from the University of Liverpool on host location by Culicoides, an MSc from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on the Biology and Control of Disease Vectors and a BSc from Keele University in Biology and Finance.
This seminar will be livestreamed at http://bit.ly/LSTM-Sem20-AH