World Mosquito Program

World Mosquito Program We are a non-profit initiative working to protect the global community from mosquito-borne diseases We only release mosquitoes with community endorsement.

The World Mosquito Program uses naturally occurring bacteria called Wolbachia to reduce the ability of mosquitoes to transmit viruses that cause life-threatening disease. A growing body of evidence to support the efficacy of the method includes a randomized controlled trial in Indonesia that showed a 77% reduction in dengue incidence in areas treated with Wolbachia. Ongoing projects in Asia, the P

acific and the Americas continue to accumulate similar promising results. Following years of laboratory research, independent risk analysis and successful field trials, WMP has undertaken deployments in 13 countries around the world and has widespread support from communities, governments and public health regulators. We are now undergoing rapid organisational change to position WMP to play a key role in scaling global access to Wolbachia and helping to protect the 4 billion people worldwide who live at risk of dengue. Multiple risk analyses conducted on the Wolbachia method have concluded that it is safe for people, animals and the environment. Releases of Wolbachia-carrying mosquitoes receive regulatory approval from relevant government bodies in every country where they take place. WMP is funded by governments and philanthropies around the world. More information about the WMP can be obtained from www.worldmosquitoprogram.org.

21/08/2026

Indonesia has set a target of zero dengue deaths by 2030.

On 30 July the Ministry of Health and the World Mosquito Program signed a Memorandum of Understanding to support implementation of the World Mosquito Program's Wolbachia method.

Indonesia records one of the heaviest dengue burdens in the world: more than 257,000 cases and over 1,400 deaths in 2024.

It is also where much of the evidence was built. The Yogyakarta trial recorded a 77% reduction in dengue cases. In 2023 the city recorded 67 cases, down from more than 1,700 in 2016.

"Achieving zero dengue deaths by 2030 requires us to accelerate effective prevention and embrace proven innovations." Dr Andi Saguni, Ministry of Health.

World Mosquito Program: re:define possible in partnership.

21/08/2026

"This collaboration is fundamental, because science exists to benefit human beings and their communities."

Anna Eppinghaus, Niterói Municipal Health Foundation, closes World Mosquito Week 2026. Health authorities exist to protect the population. So does science. They work best as one thing.

Thank you to every partner who spoke to us this week.

World Mosquito Program: re:define possible in partnership.

20/08/2026

Today is World Mosquito Day.

"The community can, on their own, see whether this strategy is truly beneficial. That is the message that can be spread across the different districts."

Veronica lives in Comas, Lima. Her point is that adoption spreads outward from communities who have already seen it work, rather than downward from anyone else.

More than 16 million people are protected across 16 countries, and it has never arrived anywhere without being invited first.

World Mosquito Program: re:define possible in partnership.

20/08/2026

Today is World Mosquito Day.

On 20 August 1897 Sir Ronald Ross found the malaria parasite in the stomach of a female Anopheles mosquito, the first evidence that mosquitoes transmit malaria between humans. The day was founded to commemorate that discovery.

Almost 130 years on, mosquito-borne disease is still with us. Our work is on a different mosquito and a different disease: Aedes aegypti, which carries dengue.

"I have felt very emotional, I have felt grateful. It is a great privilege for us in Comas to have this project."

Carmen Luz Estrella Paz, community leader in Comas, Lima, formed the meeting groups that let biologists explain Wolbachia to her neighbours. Her account of the result: many people who didn't know have been able to say yes.

More than 16 million people are now protected across 16 countries. It starts with conversations like hers.

Learn more at: https://hubs.la/Q04tGz3f0

World Mosquito Program: re:define possible in partnership.

19/08/2026

"In previous years it was unthinkable that we could have treated mosquitoes to prevent dengue. That today this is a reality, and accepted by communities, is the result of teamwork among all actors in the process."

Alma Solano, Secretary of Health, Antioquia, Colombia

19/08/2026

"Science can be transferred to a health model that generates clear public policies and, above all, that are sustainable over time."

María Isabel Montoya, clinical microbiologist, Medellín, Colombia, on what has to happen after the evidence is in.

World Mosquito Program: re:define possible in partnership.

19/08/2026

Afliana Soares took her son to the clinic with a fever that would not shift. The second clinic took blood. It was dengue.

She is now a community leader in Dili who tells her neighbours not to be afraid when someone from the Ministry of Health or Menzies arrives to distribute Wolbachia mosquitoes.

"I've been very proud to be part of this programme."

Releases have covered the whole urban population of Dili, around 240,000 people. It took Timor-Leste's Ministry of Health, Action on Poverty, the Menzies School of Health Research and the World Mosquito Program working together, with support from the Australian Government and the Macquarie Group Foundation.

Read the full story here: https://hubs.la/Q04t6X5n0

World Mosquito Program: re:define possible in partnership.

18/08/2026

"Each one offers a part of the work. It is a work that unites several ends so that we can effectively have this good result."

Mayor Rejane Gambin, Joinville, Brazil

18/08/2026

"We have no fear in embarking on a new scaling up, because we already know the technique."

Miriam Palomino, Head of the vector area at Peru's National Institute of Health, on what technology transfer delivered.

World Mosquito Program: re:define possible in partnership.

18/08/2026

The largest Wolbachia mosquito factory in the world sits in Curitiba.

"Here we have a place where the sense of partnership, the sense of association, enables conditions to fight dengue in Brazil."

Pedro Barbosa, director and president of IBMP, at the Health Technology Park. Behind him, a decade of Brazilian experience and dozens of municipalities protected.

World Mosquito Program: re:define possible in partnership.

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