PRESS RELEASE
Aggregrated “IR Mapper” database provides global direction on insecticide resistance management
The first online mapping tool to track insecticide resistance in mosquitoes
that cause malaria was launched today. The interactive website, called
IR Mapper ,
identifies locations in more than 50 malaria-endemic countries where
mosquitoes have developed resistance to the insecticides used in bed
nets and indoor residual sprays. IR Mapper incorporates the
just-released World Health Organization (WHO) revised criteria for
reporting insecticide resistance which is designed to detect it
earlier. With the most comprehensive and up-to-date information, the IR
Mapper helps direct which vector control tools should be deployed in
areas of high resistance.
Malaria
is a deadly disease transmitted to people through infected mosquitoes.
It kills a child every 60 seconds yet it is preventable and curable.
Progress has been made against the disease due largely to wide scale use
of insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor residual spraying (IRS). But
the rapid spread of resistance in malaria-carrying mosquitoes to
insecticides used in bed nets and sprays threatens current malaria
control efforts. Resistance among Anopheles malaria vectors has been
reported in 64 countries, with parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and India of
greatest concern.
“Deployment
of the most appropriate insecticide based vector control interventions
including nets and IRS needs to be informed by up-to-date data on
insecticide resistance in the malaria vector species,” said Dr. Nabie
Bayoh, an entomologist at KEMRI/CDC in Kisumu, Kenya. “Until now, data
has been scattered throughout different databases and has come from a
variety of sources. This has made prompt decision-making difficult. IR
Mapper has helped to address this” he added.
IR
Mapper consolidates published data on insecticide susceptibility and
resistance mechanisms from 1959 to 2012. It includes reports from the
President’s Malaria Initiative, National Malaria Control Programmes and
other reputable institutes.
Resistance
is usually measured by putting mosquitoes in a tube lined with
insecticide-treated paper. Mosquitoes land on the paper and absorb the
insecticide – some may die and some may survive. A population is
considered susceptible if almost all die. Until recently, resistance was
confirmed by survival of more than 20 percent in this test. The new
guidelines from WHO reduced this threshold value to 10 percent, meaning
that resistance will be reported earlier. This change is an indication
of the concern insecticide resistance is causing globally.
IR
Mapper data aligned with the new WHO thresholds is presented in a
user-friendly format on interactive maps. The mapping function allows
filtering and projection of data based on a set of user-directed
criteria. For instance, users can examine the resistance status of
single or multiple Anopheles species to one or more insecticides within
their region of interest. This can be the basis for a “go” or “no go”
decision on a particular insecticide for deployment on nets or in
sprays. Data can also be viewed for specified time periods, to identify
any existing trends in resistance over time.
Data
consolidation for IR Mapper was conducted by Vestergaard Frandsen and
KEMRI/CDC. The map interface was developed by ESRI Eastern Africa and
is powered by JavaScript. For more information, visit .
Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of Vestergaard Frandsen.
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