Gene drive can be defined as a technology where genetic materials are transferred from parents to unusually high numbers of their offspring due to biased inheritance.
A gene drive is a process in which an organism is engineered to bias the inheritance of desired traits from parent to offspring through sexual reproduction. Genes usually have a 50/50 chance of being inherited, but the gene drive increases the chance to almost 100%. This effect allows the desired traits to spread rapidly through the population over the course of generations.
Malaria-transmitting mosquitoes modified with gene drive systems are being proposed as new tools to complement current practices aimed at reducing or preventing the transmission of vector-borne diseases such as malaria.
The African continent is disproportionately affected by malaria, with 95% of the world’s 241 million cases in 2020 recorded in the region. Over the past two decades, significant progress has been made in the Malaria fight, saving more than 7 million lives and preventing over 1 billion malaria cases. However, current strategies for malaria control in Africa focus on vector control and drug therapy that has not been sufficiently adequate to eliminate malaria on the continent.
Download the gene drive factsheet here.
The African Union (AU) has committed to investing in gene drive technology development and regulation for the control and elimination of malaria on the continent, and its development agency AUDA-NEPAD established the Integrated Vector Management (IVM) Programme to help achieve this goal (AUDA-NEPAD, 2020). AUDA-NEPAD’s work targets policymakers, regulators and scientists by conducting outreach activities and strengthening regulatory frameworks needed to test gene drives on the continent.
Currently, gene drives have only been tested in large-scale laboratory experiments. This means it will be a couple of years before field testing is conducted in Africa that will generate the evidence needed to tell whether this tool will or will not control and eliminate malaria.
There is notable ongoing preparatory work that will facilitate the future testing of gene drive mosquitoes. The technology is being explored in Burkina Faso, Mali, Uganda, Tanzania, Cape Verde, Ghana, Comoros, and Sao Tome and Principe.
The African Union (AU) has committed to investing in gene drive technology development and regulation for the control and elimination of malaria on the continent, and its development agency AUDA-NEPAD established the Integrated Vector Management (IVM) Programme to help achieve this goal (African Union Development Agency-NEPAD, 2020). AUDA-NEPAD’s work targets policymakers, regulators and scientists by conducting outreach activities and strengthening regulatory frameworks needed to test gene drives on the continent.
Pan-African Mosquito Control and Association (PAMCA)
The organisation is an African member-based professional body that brings together stakeholders in vector-borne disease control to adopt best practices for controlling and eliminating these diseases in Africa and worldwide. PAMCA conducts training for African scientists, and strengthens regional collaborations and partnerships between scientists, regulators, public health professionals, academics, policymakers, students, media practitioners, and civil society actors.
Africa Genetic Biocontrol Consortium
The Consortium provides a platform to support African influence on the development of genetic biocontrol technologies through technical capacity strengthening, knowledge exchange and deliberation among African experts and institutions.
FNIH’s GeneConvene Global Collaborative
The US-based initiative supports capacity-building interventions to ensure an improved understanding of best practices and to facilitate informed decision-making in the development of genetic biocontrol technologies aimed at improving public health. It organises webinars and other online events on topical scientific, regulatory, policy and ethical issues, and runs the GeneConvene Virtual Institute, an open online source of information about gene drives and genetic biocontrol.
1. International legislative and guidance governance instruments
Key legislative components
The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity – CBD
Key guiding documents
2. African Union regulatory and institutional governance frameworks
Governance instruments
Gene Drives for Malaria Control and Elimination, 2017 – AUDA/NEPAD
3. East African Community regulatory governance frameworks
East African Science Technology and Innovation Policy (STI)
East Africa Community Protocol on Environment and Natural Resource Management
East Africa Community Regional Bioeconomy Strategy 2021
Harmonized Biosafety Policy Framework for the East African Community Report, 2016
East African Intellectual Property Policy (draft)
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