By Grégoire Sawadogo, PhD student, Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS)

The Pan-African Mosquito Control Association’s (PAMCA) 9th Annual Conference & Exhibition in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, gathered vector control professionals from across the African continent and around the world. As a PhD student in Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering, I attended the conference and presented research work related to the odorant co-receptor gene in the African malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae, and how it could be exploited for vector control. I also took part in the 2023 Policy Engagement Workshop organized by PAMCA and the Outreach Network for Gene Drive Research on the margins of the conference. The workshop, which aimed to raise awareness of the importance of having the scientific community engaged in international policy debates and provide a set of tools for researchers to communicate effectively about their work, brought together young scientists from across various African research institutions.