EDITION NOV | DEZ 2023

THE BIMONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF UCMI

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFÓRNIA MALARIA INITIATIVE UCMINEWSLETTER

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
UCMI CUNDUCTED RESEARCH ABOUT AND AWARENESS
INSECTICIDE RESISTANCE IN
MOSQUITOES

The UCMI engagement team has

been conducting engagement
activities in the school and
communities across the country,
with focus on the UCMI population
modification strategy using the
modified mosquito with the
beneficial genes and gene drive to
stop the plasmodium development
in the mosquito therefore,
contributing to malaria elimination.

The UCMI field and laboratory
teams conducted insecticide
susceptibility/resistance
testing with mosquitoes from
the USTP colony, using WHO
test kits and protocols.
The results of this study will
provide information about the
rate of resistance in the
Anopheles mosquitos from
the USTP colony to the
insecticides that are currently
used as a vector control on
the islands.
The engagement activities
conducted by the team include:
meeting with students in the
classroom, face to face meeting
with communities members, social
media posts, post in the local
journal Téla Nón, and animated
videos on national TV and audio
spots on national and local radio, to
disseminate information.
EXPERIMENT ABOUT STABILITY OF
MOSQUITO BREEDING SITES IN BAIRRO
VERDE, ÁGUA GRANDE.

In December the UCMI team is conducted experiments evaluating

the stability of mosquito breeding sites in Bairro Verde, Água
Grande. The experiments consist of daily evaluations of the status
of the puddles and their physico-chemical parameters to
understand the dynamics of these breeding sites during the rainy
season, and the relationship between these dynamics and the
presence of Anopheles coluzzii larvae.

LIFETABLE EXPERIMENTS
In December, the UCMI field team completed life table experiments
in the insectary at the USTP laboratory. These experiments provide
specific information about the mosquito life cycle, for example: the
proportion of the eggs laid per day by each female mosquito, and
how long it takes a mosquito to go from egg to adult. This
information about the mosquitoes that transmit malaria
(Anopheles coluzzii) in São Tomé and Principe, will be useful in
planning mosquito surveillance activities, and in the development
of models that will demonstrate how the UCMI modified mosquito
may behave if released into the natural environment.

BLOOD MEAL ANALYSIS

UCMI has concluded field collections of resting mosquitoes
in Ribeira Afonso in the district of Cantagalo. During the
collection, the females were captured resting inside and
outside houses and surrounding vegetation. After
collection the mosquitoes were taken to the UCMI Molecular
Biology laboratory at USTP, to evaluate the host
preferences of Anopheles coluzzii mosquitoes to
answer the question “what/who
are the mosquitoes biting?”.

After a training program on mosquito dissection

technique, our research team is now conducting daily
dissections of mosquitoes from the field and from CNE
and USTP colonies, in order to improve their
laboratory skills.
 ENGAGEMENT TEAM
TRAINING AND PLANNING
FOR 2024
The UCMI engagement team participated in a
training session on 28 & 29 of November. This
session provided the entire team with
advanced communication skills and practice
in application, and will be important to exercise
the communication and awareness practices
in the most diverse topics related to the
project. During the training the team
conducted brainstorming sessions in order to
prepare the UCMI National Engagement plan
for 2024.

NEW UCMI TEAM

MEMBER
The UCMI team welcomes Lúcio Santana
(above), the New Community
Engagement Focal Point in São Tomé,
who begins this position at the beginning
of January.

All the UCMI family wish Lúcio success in

this position.

PARTNERS NEWS IN FACEBOOK.COM/UCMISTP STOPMALARIA.ORG

 A N D H A P P Y N E W Y E A R

In this Christmas season, the UCMI

Project wishes all the collaborators,
friends, partners and all the citizens of
São Tomé and Príncipe a Merry
Christmas and a prosperous New
Year! 2024 will be a year of great
achievements advancing towards a
São Tomé and Príncipe
free from Malaria.