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SALT LAKE CITY – Two Utah scientists are working in Mali to reduce malaria. It’s the first time Utah’s mosquito control measures have been implemented there.
Jason Hardman and Greg White with the Salt Lake City Mosquito District spent over a week in Mali.
“People see Greg and I, and they always take a second look,” Hardman said. But they always wave and smile, and it’s an amazing experience.
Three years ago, Utah charity Oulesebugu Alliance teamed up with scientists from the Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District to help reduce malaria in West Africa.
Hardman and White volunteered, and the Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District sent two trucks to spray insecticide.
Using the Salt Lake City mitigation model to kill mosquitoes, Hardman and White have been teaching villagers how to study and then eliminate mosquito species.
“People here are learning very, very quickly,” Hardman said.
While studying mosquitoes at the University of Bamako, Siriman, 28, met White and Hardman to learn how to collect larvae for lab work.
“I’m excited to do it,” Siriman said.
White Siriman taught them how to study mosquitoes in Africa.
Now, they’re teaching Siriman what to do in Salt Lake City, including lab work with mosquito larva samples, what pesticides to mix and spray, and setting traps.
Starting Tuesday, White and Hardman set up 40 mosquito traps in eight different villages.
“Every village we go to, we have to meet the elders first,” White said. “It’s extremely important to them.”
The village they visited was in mourning after another child died of malaria the night before White and Hardman arrived.
“Children die from malaria all the time,” Hardman said. “It was very sad for the village, but it was nothing they had not experienced and will not experience in the future.”
Since 2000, nearly 12 million people have died from malaria, according to the World Health Organization. Pregnant women and children are especially vulnerable—all because of Hardman and White’s work.
“People here need help, they need our help,” Hardman said.
The two fly home on Friday. Once they return, they will work with students at the University of Bamako, planning to call each week and discuss their findings from the larval samples.
White said the word has spread to other African countries, such as Ethiopia, where villagers want to implement similar mitigation methods.
“It’s great to be around people who are passionate about what you’re doing,” White said.
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Erin CoxErin Cox is an Emmy Sheward-winning special projects reporter for KSL-TV.
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