Malaria Research Capacity Development in West and Central Africa (MARCAD) recently awarded Dr Opondo with a Post-doctoral Fellowship to conduct his research on the ‘Impact of Insecticide Resistance on Malaria Vector Longevity and Transmission Potential in the Wild’. Dr Opondo’s research focuses on measuring the transmission potential of resistant malaria vectors in the wild and later use the empirical data to update malaria transmission models specific to The Gambia. The award Dr Opondo received will help to establish a critical mass of internationally-competitive scientists in West and Central Africa with a focus on malaria control and elimination. Dr Opondo holds a PhD in Tropical Medicine majoring in entomology/epidemiology from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), UK which sought to understand how mosquito behaviour and insecticide resistance affect malaria transmission patterns in The Gambia. Kevin previously spent two years at Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) in Tanzania as part of his MSc training, investigating how mosquito behaviour affects the design and development of mosquito sampling tools.

Dr Opondo is interested in the application of Geographic Information System (GIS) tools to MRCguide malaria control strategies and in simplified communication of science to policy makers, to enable evidence-based decision making. He will be advised by Professor Umberto D’Alessandro (MRCG), Professor Martin Donnelly and Dr David Weetman both from (LSTM) and Dr Jo Lines (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine).