Microgeographic structure, vector control and population dynamics of Glossina palpalis palpalis: Impact on Human and animal trypanosomiases in the Campo focus, southern Cameroon

Human African trypanosomiases, traditionally called sleeping sickness, still affects the poor community of Campo in the South Region of Cameroon. During routine activities of farming and fishing in the forest, villagers are in close contact with tsetse flies which transmit the disease. The disease is deadly if left untreated. WHO and our national disease control program efforts to screen and treat patients every year has contributed to significantly decreasing the impact of this disease, but a few cases are still reported each year. Recently, a new and less costly preventative method involving insecticide treated screens, called tiny targets, was developed to kill tsetse flies. This constitutes a promising cost-effective strategy for eliminating the disease. My study aims to show that these new tools are a cheaper alternative which can help to eliminate this disease in our country in five years, compared to the screening of the whole growing population of Campo every year. These treated screens can also be used to protect cattle, affected by animal trypanosomiasis, in the northern cattle breeding area of Cameroon.