Vector Control Professional Placement Programme

The Vector Control Professional Placement Programme, an initiative of Innovation to Impact and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, supported researchers from malaria endemic African countries to undertake research with product developers of vector control tools.

The Programme offered fully funded placements to professionals already working in vector control at African research institutes to learn from industry partners and to share knowledge from their home countries. This was an opportunity for researchers to learn best practice skills while directly contributing to the development of global health interventions.

Researchers were seconded at the industry partner and complete placements of 12 months before returning to their home institute.

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Industry Partners

Objectives

  • Build professional capacity of the researchers and raise awareness of the regulatory, safety and manufacturing issues that must be considered by product developers.
  • Increase the existing capacity of African research institutes to contribute to malaria and vector control discovery and product development initiatives through more sustainable and localized innovation.

Benefits

Participation in the Vector Control Professional Placement Programme offered a range of benefits to researchers, including:

  • A fully funded placement with a locally competitive salary, accommodation, insurance, visas, and support for accompanying family members;
  • The opportunity to develop in-demand skills in vector control product development, business planning, quality assurance, regulatory affairs as well as soft skills;
  • Training on areas such as R&D best practices, business planning and products lifecycle, as well as mentoring support;
  • Networking and the two-way sharing of knowledge with local and international researchers

Support to partners and home research institutes

  • Industrial partners who joined the initiative received full funding from the Programme.
  • Home research institutes bore no costs associated with the Programme.

Partners

LSTM
The word PAMCA in red with a green border superimposed on a green image of the African continent on a white background with a large black mosquito silhouette at the bottom of the image. The entire image is surrounded by a green circle in which the top part of the circle is written 'PAN-AFRICAN MOSQUITO CONTROL ASSOCIATION'

Further information

I2I ended in October 2026 after the completion of the Vector Control Professional Placement Programme.