PhD & Postdoc

Kofi Asante

Malaria Vector Control · University of Cape Coast

Kofi Asante monitors and characterises insecticide resistance in Anopheles gambiae populations across Southern Ghana's high-transmission malaria zones, providing actionable intelligence for the Ghana Health Service's indoor residual spraying programme. At the University of Cape Coast's Department of Biomedical and Forensic Sciences, supervised by Prof. Samuel Dadzie, Kofi conducts WHO tube bioassays and dose-response survival analyses across 14 collection sites for permethrin, deltamethrin, bendiocarb, and pirimiphos-methyl — the four IRS insecticides currently in rotation. His PCR genotyping has identified near-fixation (>95% allele frequency) of the kdr L1014F voltage-gated sodium channel mutation at all coastal sites, explaining the 100% permethrin resistance. More critically, metabolic resistance driven by CYP6M2 and CYP6P3 cytochrome P450 overexpression confers synergist-reversible resistance to the carbamate class despite low kdr frequency at inland savanna sites. This differential landscape — target-site resistance on the coast, metabolic resistance inland — means a single insecticide rotation schedule cannot serve the country uniformly. Kofi's GIS resistance mapping and his advisory role with the Ghana Health Service vector control programme directly inform the two-product IRS zonal strategy now being piloted in 2026.

Thesis Topic

Insecticide Resistance Mechanisms in Anopheles gambiae s.l. from Southern Ghana: Target-Site Mutations, Metabolic Enzymes, and Cross-Resistance Implications for IRS Programmes

Transition Signals