Focus Areas
I2I aims at advancing five primary areas of focus and finally handing them over to groups with the responsibility to take them forward in the future.
The effect of I2I’s work will be to align vector control stakeholders around longstanding, underlying issues that hinder innovation and quality management of vector control tools. This will help raise trust in vector control tools and garner greater understanding of how to interpret quality and performance data for the community.
I2I will catalyse these focus areas and ensure long term sustainability of their follow-ons to benefit the vector control community beyond the scope of this grant.
Country Registration
Enhancing the support to country regulators in making efficient and informed decisions about new vector control tools via targeted workshops and to develop ongoing activities with established regional actors, mandated to develop this platform further, and in collaboration with WHO/PQ.
Methods Validation
Establishing a process of method development and validation, and applying to key priority methods for evaluation of vector control tools. Developing novel methods to test new tools and insecticides. Validation of methods includes underlying research into testing parameters and inputs, to aid generation of more robust data and guide its interpretation and use.
Industry Engagement
Facilitating industry contributions to key developments across country registration, methods validation and professional placement of African researchers, and encouraging further innovation in product development. The engagement of manufacturers will provide a consolidated industry voice on important technical and policy issues.
Professional Placement Programme
Promoting more sustainable and localized innovation by developing and piloting a professional placement programme for African vector control researchers within major product developers, to build professional capacity of the researchers as well as of their home institutions
ITN Lifecycle
Working towards alignment amongst stakeholder groups on the needs and opportunities to improve the life cycle management of vector control tools, starting with ITNs as a priority product class with which a process can be established to maximise the performance of vector control products.