–A new UK space Agency-funded project to fight Malaria in Guyana

THE North Rupununi District Development Board, Iwokrama International Centre, University of Guyana and BrainStreet Group have announced a new project which will co-design a community-based malaria vector- control service.
The project in the Indigenous community of Yupukari, North Rupununi, Region Nine (Upper-Takutu-Upper Essequibo) will engage stakeholders from within Guyana and beyond in planning for national and global roll-out.

There is virtually no aspect of our daily lives that has been left untouched by the COVID-19 outbreak, and the impact of it will likely be felt for several years to come.
“It’s worth remembering that all of the other diseases which existed BC (Before COVID-19) are still just as problematic during this pandemic, and in some cases are being exacerbated by the disruption caused by COVID-19,” a release said.
New modelling analysis released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and its partners ahead of World Malaria Day (April 25) showed that severe disruptions to insecticide-treated net campaigns and access to anti-malarial medicines could lead to a doubling in the number of malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa this year to 760,000, compared to 2018.

The annual death toll from malaria does not grab the headlines in the same way, but this disease has had a devastating impact on many developing nations, and still there is no effective vaccine. In the absence of an effective vaccine to prevent malaria, access to anti-malarial drugs and the provision of sleeping nets and spraying of insecticides are the cornerstones of international programmes to combat the disease. However, in some countries, this strategy is failing.
The DETECT Project has bought together commercial enterprises (Blue Bear Systems, 2iC, BrainStreet Group), NGOs (Iwokrama International Centre, North Rupununi District Development Board), academic institutions (The Open University, University of Guyana, Stirling University and University of Aberystwyth) and the Commonwealth Centre for Digital Health, to develop a novel mosquito-breeding site detection and control strategy, using a combination of remote sensing, drone surveys, ground truthing and cloud computing.

“Our strategy is to enable communities affected by malaria to have satellite, air-borne and ground-based environmental data at their fingertips, so that they can identify where mosquitoes are most likely to breed,” the release noted.
The project will then enable communities to deploy ‘sprayer drones’ to these high-risk areas to release biocontrol agents which kill the mosquito larvae without affecting other species.
“DETECT: Integrated Space Technology Vector Control for Enhancing Community Health and Resilience Against Escalating Climatic Disruptions” began with a ‘Discovery Phase’ on August 1, 2020 which will last for eight months.