PMI VectorLink Nigeria

In 2021, malaria killed an estimated 619,000 people around the world, an increase of 12 percent over the prior year, with many of the additional deaths due to service disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions more fell sick from the disease, with young children and pregnant women among the most vulnerable. Nigeria contributes almost a quarter (23 percent) of the world’s malaria cases and has a 31 percent mortality rate. There is widespread insecticide resistance by the major malaria vectors across the country. This threatens the effectiveness of the available control tools, including nets.

Since 2006, the United States President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) has protected millions of people in Africa from malaria through the deployment of insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor residual spraying. These interventions kill the mosquitoes that transmit malaria by spraying insecticide on the walls, ceilings, and other indoor mosquito resting places. In September 2017, the United States continued its commitment to tackling this deadly disease, launching the five-year PMI VectorLink Project in Nigeria.

Activities and accomplishments:

• PMI VectorLink provided trainings and tools to Principal Investigators from 16 institutions in Nigeria to support the generation of data required for vector control decisions at the state level.
• The project supported the development of national harmonized entomology standard operating procedures to guide new and existing partners conducting vector monitoring in the country.
• Insecticide resistance data collected by PMI VectorLink led the National Malaria Elimination Program (NMEP) to deploy new types of ITNs (PBO) for the first time in the country, in Ebonyi State. The project also evaluated the impact of these new ITNs.
• PMI VectorLink provided training and technical assistance to Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas company to carry out entomological surveillance and insecticide resistant monitoring in Bonny Island. The project also partnered with Nasarawa State University Keffi, procuring lab equipment to expand its malaria laboratory analysis capacity.
• Following the discovery of An. stephensi in Gombe State, PMI VectorLink worked with the NMEP to conduct surveillance in seven high-risk states to assess the spread of this invasive species. The project trained more than 50 Principal Investigators and technicians across the country in An. stephensi surveillance and identification.
• The team also successfully rolled out mobile data collection for longitudinal entomological surveillance in four sites and instituted a standardized data labeling system for lab samples.
• The project collaborated with local geographic information system firm to carry out an LSM feasibility survey to identify and map Anopheles larval breeding sites within Argungu, Bunza, and Kalgo local government areas of Kebbi State, to determine if this intervention is suitable in Nigeria.

Capacity Building
Impact of Interventions
Leadership & Governance
Monitoring & Evaluation
Surveillance
Vector Control

Jan 2018 — Jul 2023

$7.8M

Nigeria

The PMI VectorLink Project

Larval source management