How do you personally feel about mosquitoes?
You have to go to the hospital,
and if you don't have money, malaria will kill you.
It can kill the baby.
It has killed many babies.
It killed a baby who was close to me.
My sister's baby.
She started convulsing.
Her fever was high. I did not waste time.
I caught a ride and rushed her here.
She had very strong malaria.
We got one. One oxygen.
Ma'am, can you fill for us, oxygen?
As a kid,
I can't even tell you how many episodes of malaria I went through.
I can still clearly see, you know, the picture of my father.
He was standing next to my bed,
looking at me.
I could really see, you know, a lot of fear in his eyes.
If malaria was killing 600,000 people in the US or in Europe,
the problem would have completely changed by now.
Do you think we can do it?
First of all, I will say that statistics are really good storytellers.
Of these 247 million cases worldwide every year,
Africa's bearing about 235 million cases…
-That's incredible. -…alone.
The real problem today is that
when you look at the conventional tools that we have in hand,
you take bed nets and then you take the new drugs and everything,
they have done a really incredible job.
But right now, it seems like they have reached the protective limit.
With the current tools, basically,
it looks like you are sitting in a really very fast driving car,
and your target is the moon.
How are you going to make it?
You absolutely need a completely different engine.
We need to put a lot of effort and research
trying to come up with new tools.
We have recruited so far 324 children for this, uh, second part of the trial.
I'm Bernadina Odhiambo,
and I'm 26 years.
I'm a mother of two.
There is Ian and Margaret.
Here in Siaya, there is high risk of malaria.
We know that there's some measures that we can take by ourselves to control it.
I've made it as clean as possible.
There are no stagnant waters around.
We are all sleeping under treated mosquito nets.
We can use mosquito repellents.
We heard of malaria studies that are being conducted in Siaya County.
I was much interested since I'm a victim of malaria.
My older son got malaria when he was two months old.
So, when it came to the studies,
I just decided to be part of them.
Once we started the study, we were called upon.
We went to Kogelo.
They were taking some blood for tests.
So, after that, they were given a dose for malaria.
Research is kind of a long process.
We want something right now, but if you want to do research,
like, you know, the specific technology that we are developing, it takes time.
And I'm part of the project Target Malaria.
We are using advanced genetic tools to get rid of malaria in the future.
We don't have the gene drive mosquitoes in Africa yet
for many reasons.
There are so many other elements around it,
and all these different pieces need, you know, to fall in place
just to make sure that you have something really very solid
and very safe for the community.
You know, malaria is rural,
and it's happening during the rainy season.
Taking mosquitoes, you know, to spread the gene for you,
and even in a really very difficult area,
if you cannot get access, the mosquito will do the job for you.
So, we really feel that this is a very transformative tool,
but, you know, to release mosquitoes in the field is really very easy.
It's going to take me just only 30 minutes,
but we took seven years to get there.
If you start right away with the gene drive, then it's spreading,
then you have all these different aspects that you did not look at,
then it's going to be very difficult.
You need to work for the community to get the social license.
And this is not something which is granted.
You really need to build trust with them.
I cannot just pop up in any single village with a bucket of mosquitoes
on the assumption that I'm a scientist working for the good of the public.
People really need to understand what you're doing.
Ah, good morning.
How are you?
Great. Thank you.
Good morning.
-How are you? -I'm very fine.
Great. Thank you.
We're very delighted to welcome you this morning.
As you can see, this is our insectary.
All the mosquitos are here.
We know there are a number of concerns that are out there,
so sometimes it's really very good
if you can take the leaders of the community
into the insectary and then you show them the mosquitoes,
how you do the transformation,
and allow them, you know, to ask all kinds of questions.
As you can see, the whole building is painted in white.
This makes it easier to see when something sits on the wall.
With the fans, if you stand here, you'll feel the wind.
Everything is done in such a way to keep the mosquitos inside.
All the mosquitos on this line have been genetically modified.
Here's the paraffin, which is like human skin.
You also have the source of the heat that you put on it.
It makes the paraffin warm, and the mosquitos can feel it right away.
When they feel it, they come and start sucking.
I learned a lot today in the insectary.
I was amazed at how a mosquito could be modified.
The mosquito is so small,
and to say that it can be modified,
well, it's astonishing.
That's what we call DNA.
When the modification is integrated into the mosquito's genome,
you will see that it has red eyes.
So, mosquitos that aren't modified don't have red eyes?
No, they don't have red eyes.
Very often people will come to you and say
that if you remove the mosquitoes, then what is going to happen?
But my question is that we have 600,000 deaths every year.
Something bad is already happening.
So you absolutely need to do something about it.
The population really wants the success of this project
because we have seen grave cases of malaria,
and the people are desperate
for an adequate solution.
-Good evening. -Good evening.
-How is family? -Good.
-Are you all doing well? -Yes.
Since this morning, do you know what happened?
What?
I visited the laboratory to see how the malaria work has been going.
So, how does someone recognize a modified mosquito?
When you look at them, the modified mosquitos have red eyes.
Mama, Ian, how are you?
I am okay.
Ian, say hello to the doctor!
Uh, in the last, uh, one month,
from the time you came to the clinic, there's no problem with the child?
-He is good. -Okay.
So, anything that you'd want to report about the child generally?
This is now six months.
Eh, home visits, clinic, home visit and clinic.
I'm so privileged to be a part of this study
because the boy, he has been good.
He has not tested for malaria for six months.
Before, I was afraid
because I was one of the victims of malaria.
And although it has not been proven that it will work,
but we are hoping, in a few years coming.
And I am praying, and it's my humble prayer
that this antibody…
…will be going to work.
So I'm not afraid.
Are the redesigned mosquitos going to stay with them
inside the laboratory?
You don't need to be afraid of the modified mosquitos.
The aim of this work is to eradicate female mosquitos
in order to combat malaria.
It scares us because we often hear that white people have done this, done that,
and added things to our illnesses.
If you go to the lab,
the truth is that it's breathtaking,
and the people there work hard, and the work is going really well.
As long as malaria will be killing people here in Africa a lot
and completely destroying our economy,
we will struggle, you know, to develop.
This is where my roots are.
I was born here, raised here.
All my family is here.
Nobody's going to build my country for me.
I have to do it.
We have to do it.