First mosquito observatory network to be launched in Africa
Published: 26 August 2025
The University of Glasgow, in partnership with leading research institutes across Africa and Europe, is spearheading the first interconnected observatory network for mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases in Africa.
The University of Glasgow, in partnership with leading research institutes across Africa and Europe, is spearheading the first interconnected observatory network for mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases in Africa.
The new transformative initiative, which will be called VectorGrid-Africa, is backed by €6.1 million from the EU’s HORIZON/EDCTP programme and will initially focus on five countries in the east and southern areas of Africa: Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa and Madagascar.
The team of scientists behind the initiative hope the project will improve our understanding of mosquito-borne diseases in the region and will focus on the spread of known mosquito species, as well as undetected and unknown species.
The initiative will create the first ever large-scale, open-access, high-quality dataset on mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases in the region and will support rapid detection of invasive species, emerging pathogens and genetic changes.
VectorGrid-Africa will also directly strengthen mosquito control and disease-risk forecasting in the region, where the fight against mosquito-borne diseases is currently hampered by the absence of comprehensive, long-term, and high-quality datasets. This lack of information hinders scientists’ overall understanding of how diseases are transmitted, along with the impact other factors have on disease spread, including climate change, deforestation, urbanization and mosquito control interventions such as insecticide.
Managed by local African institutions to ensure the network is sustainable in the long-term, the observatory, in local monitoring sites, will collect data on mosquito densities, species diversity, host preferences, transmitted diseases, and genomic variations including insecticide resistance, alongside critical climatic, human and other environmental factors.
VectorGrid-Africa will also train African scientists to perform advanced entomological and genomic analyses on site, avoiding the need to send any samples abroad.
Although the World Health Organization (WHO) advocates for surveillance as a core intervention against vector-borne diseases, most low-income countries lack the financial and technical capacity to implement this on a large scale. The VectorGrid initiative will seek to address this by collating data on a range of mosquito-borne diseases across five countries in Africa.
Professor Fredros Okumu, VectorGrid-Africa principal investigator and Professor of Vector Biology at the University of Glasgow, said: “The University of Glasgow, along with all our collaborators, is thrilled to see the launch of VectorGrid-Africa, which is an important step forward in monitoring mosquito-borne disease transmission in Africa.
“The work of the initiative, not just in tracking invasive mosquito species and monitoring natural mutations, is pivotal to long-term vector control efforts and to better understanding insecticide resistance and transmission dynamics.”
Dr Ally Olotu, Director of Science at the Ifakara Health Institute, said: "The establishment of the VectorGrid-Africa observatory network is a monumental step forward in our battle against mosquito-borne diseases across East and Southern Africa. By strengthening in-country capacity to collect, analyse, and interpret high-quality, standardised data on mosquitoes and pathogens, we are not only addressing a critical gap in surveillance but also empowering our own scientists to drive solutions.
“This initiative will provide invaluable insights for Tanzania and the wider region, enabling us to better understand transmission dynamics, anticipate the impacts of climate change, and develop more effective, localised interventions to safeguard public health."
Enquiries: ali.howard@glasgow.ac.uk or elizabeth.mcmeekin@glasgow.ac.uk
First published: 26 August 2025