Do agricultural insecticides utilisation in West and central Africa select for insecticide resistance in the major malaria vector An gambiae sl?

Mosquitoes that transmit malaria are becoming increasingly resistant to the chemical insecticides used to control them. This might be due to the inappropriate use of the same chemicals in farming to kill crop pests. The resistance of malaria mosquitoes collected in and around agricultural settings has been reported, and this information needs to be examined to elucidate the contribution of the agricultural use of insecticides to the emergence of insecticide resistance in mosquitoes that transmit malaria.

I plan to determine the resistance status of mosquitoes breeding around different types of crops found in West and central Africa and compare them with those breeding where there is no agricultural activity. I will identify which cropping system has a greater risk of contributing to resistance in mosquitoes that transmit malaria.

Information from this research will be useful for agriculture workers and malaria control decision makers.