VCP3 2025 Envu Candidate - Margaret Njoroge
Margaret Njoroge was the 2025 Vector Control Professional Placement Candidate at Envu. She is an entomologist with a background in the control of malaria vectors and more recently, she has worked on single solutions for the control of multiple vectors. She works with communities in Kenya to understand perspectives on mosquito borne diseases and vector control tools. She has a diverse range of interests with a background in molecular biology, parasites and vectors, but her key interests are in an integrated approach to vector control and outdoor biting mosquitoes.
The below interview was conducted with her during her time as a VCP3 candidate.
What is your favourite part of working in your field?
The best thing about working in vector control is seeing the impact that potential solutions have on populations. Due to my work that requires setting up field bioassays, I have spent time interacting with populations living in areas where vector-borne diseases cause the highest burden. My interactions with people in the field, even as part of data collection, leave me with a determination to find answers that can help them. It is these people; a lady in western Kenya who was apologetic for a house infested with bed bugs, a young man in coastal Kenya, determined to get rid of mosquitoes in his grandmother’s house, the child who had malaria that we took to hospital when he was unconscious that has since grown up and is now looking to join the university, that remind me that what I do is not abstract or just for academic sake, but it has potential to change lives for better.
What are the challenges that you would most like to address in your field?
As part of experience capitalization, I interacted with a few local community members, some who asked me how we decide what is a ‘global’ problem without first consulting them. That comment was particularly uncomfortable as I have made many assumptions in the past as to what constitutes a problem in local communities. I would want to have regular consultations with community persons to check on what areas they feel requires intervention and how this change in terms of urgency, from one season to the next and have this carefully mapped for alignment with partners. I imagine this is an undertaking that would struggle to find sufficient funding as it requires immense effort, but it is an area if addressed, would make a lot of people feel heard and understood when rolling out solutions to their problems. This issue would tie in with my quest for integrated approaches to vector-borne diseases that are adapted to socio-economic challenges allowing for adequate acceptance and adoption.
What have you experienced as a part of your VCP3 programme?
VCP3 placement in Envu has offered me a front row seat to not only know how product development takes place, but to be part of the testing processes and the back and forth required to check all production steps until there is a confirmation, at the very final stage, of activity as intended. I have appreciated the expertise needed to identify a product of interest, the vigorous work that goes into checking every production step, and the troubleshooting discussions that allow decision-making at every step, even if it means taking a few steps back. I have been fully immersed within Envu into these processes and have been privileged to contribute actively and to appreciate the effort required at every step of the production cycle. Due to this full immersion at Envu, I have been able to provide input in some of the discussions that I have been part of and the appreciation and immediate action on my input has been truly memorable.
What is the most exciting or novel experience you have had through the VCP3?
Almost every day at Envu has had memorable moments that I have been truly grateful for. I can say that the sheer scale of organisation, expertise and coordination that is needed at any given time has been impressive to observe making me realize just how complex product development is, specifically in the context of Envu. I have sat in meetings where the discussions we have had, have made me go back to study just to appreciate the depth of science that is tapped into. The fact that this was only possible to experience because of VCP3 programme makes me very grateful for this opportunity.
How do you think you might use the information from your VCP3 experience in the future?
I have noted the level of excellence that Envu as an industry aims to achieve in processing a product for the market and have taken note that research partners are a vital link to ensuring that this excellence is not only retained but improved with every successful product launch. My experience under the VCP3 placement has motivated me to see how better I could package myself as a research partner that can help industries check on the efficacy of their products. I have noted just how difficult it can be for industries to get research partners on board due to a tendency for researchers to treat industries as donors instead of partners in vector control and would want to find a solution for this.
Do you have any final reflections on the VCP3 that you would like to share with I2I readers?
It is an honour having been selected as a VCP3 candidate to be able to experience industry as an entomologist and see just how differently we think and operate and to find a synergy that could work between the two partners. I feel that such opportunities demystify each partner as industries can understand the limitation of research partners and vice versa and hopefully adjust accordingly because we need each other to ensure that we can effectively control vectors and in turn reduce the diseases they transmit and contribute to improved lives.