Product/Service Development

Existing malaria vector control methods (e.g. nets and insecticide sprays) primarily target mosquitoes that enter or attempt to enter human dwellings, yet mosquitoes also obtain significant proportions of essential resources outdoors. Fredros Okumu of Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania and his co-investigators therefore proposed the use of strategically-located outdoor vector control devices. In this project's Phase I research, the team created new and easy-to-use outdoor methods for luring, trapping and killing mosquitoes, including major African malaria vectors.

Because DDT is the only insecticide that remains effective for more than a year, Walter Focke of the University of Pretoria in South Africa will investigate how insecticides degrade when applied on an indoor surface. Focke will then study whether combining the insecticide with paint to create a "whitewash" can mitigate this disintegration and enhance stability.

Jim Collins, Ewen Cameron, and Peter Belenky of Boston University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the U.S. plan to engineer the probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus gasseri to detect and kill Vibrio cholerae in the human intestine. The probiotic could be supplied as an inexpensive lyophilized powder to endemic populations to prevent cholera.

Njayou Ngapagna Arouna of the Université des Montagnes in Cameroon will identify chemical blends to effectively repel tsetse flies, which transmit Human African Trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), as an environmentally friendly method of disease control. Chemical blends released from porous material hung around the necks of cattle in sub-Saharan Africa can protect them from Animal African Trypanosomiasis (nagana), which is also transmitted by tsetse flies.

Alvin Tamsir and Karsten Temme of Pivot Bio, Inc. in the U.S. will use a synthetic gene regulation system to transfer a nitrogen-fixing gene cluster from naturally occurring bacteria into agricultural crops. These engineered crops could capture and metabolize nitrogen from the atmosphere, reducing the need for petrochemical fertilizers and reducing the cost of farming in developing countries.

Antonio Sánchez of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Spain will test the ability of low-cost iron oxide biocompatible nanoparticles to increase the production of biogas from sludge and other organic wastes and also produce high quality sanitized compost.

Lawino Kagumba of ZanaAfrica in Kenya will develop and test sanitary pads that use a locally available agricultural by-product as an alternative low-cost absorbent material. This would enable low-income women and girls to have access to affordable feminine hygiene products, improving their productivity and menstrual health.

Clair Null and Silantoi Kisoso with Innovations for Poverty Action in the U.S., along with Michael Kremer of Harvard University, are designing a children's latrine training mat made from easy-to-clean plastic that fits over an existing latrine hole. The sturdy but easy-to-move platform has a child-sized hole that eliminates the fear and risk of falling into the latrine, promoting good sanitation practices and fostering a life-long habit of latrine use.

Kara Nelson of the University of California, Berkeley in the U.S. proposes to disinfect excreta in latrines by converting the ammonia naturally found in urine and feces into a powerful disinfectant by adding an alkalinizing agent to raise the pH level. By killing pathogens immediately and turning excreta into "safe sludge," all subsequent activities required for excreta management become safer.

Asafu Maradufu of the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton in Kenya proposes to produce a gel-based disinfectant from plant extracts of Senecio lyratipartitus which can be applied to hands. This disinfectant will reduce contamination associated with the practice of anal ablution among certain communities.