ISLAMABAD: In view of its wealth of data and expertise, Pakistan has been selected to head the International Exchange Programme Anopheles Stephensi Africa — South Asia familiarization Programme.
The Directorate of Malaria Control, Ministry of National Health Services has been selected for the exchange programme under which it will arrange a training and capacity building programme of 9 African nations for Anopheles Stephensi surveillance and control, a senior DoMC official said.
He said, that historically South Asia and parts of the Middle East, have been endemic to Anopheles stephensi an efficient vector of malaria that has gained notoriety due to its spread to a number of African nations since 2013, particularly in Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia Djibouti, and Sudan, according to a local TV.
The official said that the biggest threat posed by this range expansion was that this mosquito was able to flourish in urban areas, thus representing a paradigm shift in malaria epidemiology from being a primarily rural disease in Africa to possibly also infecting millions of city dwellers across the continent.
However, based on decades of experience in surveillance and control of this mosquito, both Pakistan and India were requested to share their experience with malaria control colleagues in Africa.
African Officials to Visit Pakistan
The official said that Islamabad also has highly advanced control practices, research capacity as well as operational research infrastructural facilities. A number of selected top-level influential and decision-making candidates from affected African nations will visit Pakistan to learn from its vast experience and foster partnerships to collaborate in surveillance, research, and control for mutual benefit.
He highlighted that this visit would be an initial pilot event as a foundation to build on future exchanges with expanded targets and outputs, but critical to set an example and launch partnerships, importantly also to demonstrate successful outputs and results that can serve as incentives for funding partners to support future initiatives for multi-country efforts to curb the Anopheles stephensi threat.
