And while waiting for a vaccine, a Cameroonian invention could come to lend a hand in the fight against malaria.
A researcher has developed a 100% organic pesticide to fight mosquito larvae, responsible for the transmission of the disease.
Her name is Antoinette Ntoumba, she is 41 years old and develops her insecticides from local plants.
For seven years, this parasitologist has been researching nanoparticles to show the effectiveness of plants against malaria.
Antoinette Ntoumba is developing organic insecticides against mosquito larvae, vectors of the disease.
An innovative method in the face of mosquitoes increasingly resistant to chemical insecticides.
"What we are proposing is really to fight this aspect of resistance. Above all, to offer a natural product at a lower cost", explains the researcher.
Antoinette Ntoumba succeeded in developing the formula of her pesticide with her small team in a laboratory of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Douala.
A formula that allowed it to be rewarded in 2020 by Unesco for its innovative process in the fight against malaria.
"This product is very effective. We already use it in our neighborhoods, in our homes," she says.
"We need to have a well-developed and structured protocol. If we spread it you will see that we will really reduce the number of mosquitoes and if we reduce the number of mosquitoes we will have reduced the number of people who go to it. 'hospital for malaria'.
But to obtain new results, Antoinette Ntoumba will have to produce her insecticide on a large scale.
A challenge, because in Cameroon, the limited resources granted to researchers like her do not always allow them to quickly achieve their objectives.
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