Public Engagement with Science: Community actors trained in mosquito collection

Forty-two community workers, including 28 men and 14 women, were trained in mosquito capture techniques by PhD MARCAD Plus fellow, Pape Cheikh Sarr. The training sessions were held on 6, 8 and 11 June in the three study villages, namely the village of Darou Salam attached to the Diama health post in the Richard Toll health district, Keur Martin attached to the Fatick district and the village of Pointe Sarène belonging to the Mbour district.

"This training series marks the beginning of Pape Cheikh's field data collection activities. The aim was to train community volunteers on the methods for capturing mosquitoes that are aggressive towards humans."

The participants of the training were made aware of Pape Cheikh's malaria research objectives and the importance of these activities within the community.

'' Captures from humans are currently the only sufficiently precise measure of mosquito aggressiveness and abundance on which entomological studies of the dynamics of local malaria-vector mosquito populations are based ‘’, said the MARCAD Plus PhD fellow.

These transmission studies are important for planning vector control interventions based on the results of scientific research, according to Pape Cheikh Sarr.

The community actors who benefited from this training will accompany Pape Cheikh throughout his research project.

'' They will support us throughout our research work by taking an active part in the monthly data collection. They will play an important role within our research work by participating in and facilitating the collection of data ‘’, explained the MARCAD Plus PhD Fellow.