The mosquito is a Western weapon to consciously spread diseases and to sterilize the inhabitants of Burkina Faso. With that assumption, August 18, Target Malaria was invaded in Burkina Faso. A special unit of the police put away scientists after a “brutal and humiliating” raid as “criminals,” in which the offices and laboratories were considered a crime scene, writes Science.
The week before, a milestone was celebrated: in the village of Souroukoudingan, around 16,000 male mosquitoes were released that were genetically modified to produce almost exclusively male offspring. And since males did not stab, the mosquito population that gives malaria would eventually decrease.
In the press release From 18 August of Target Malaria – which has been committed to malaria prevention in Burkina Faso since 2012 – it said that this new loot was supported in malaria fighting by the local population, and that all national regulatory authorities had given their approval. In Burkina Faso, according to the WHO Almost 12.5 million malaria cases annually, with the fatalities mainly falling among children under five years.
Russian networks
After the raid, the modified mosquitoes were killed by insecticides, and for the time being the projects of Target Malaria have been stopped. There had been criticism of genetic modification for some time, but according to Science Is the main reason misinformation, which is partly distributed via Russian networks. This fits within a pattern of disinformation campaigns, says Mark Duandsen, safety expert at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. “We have really seen this kind of disinformation about public health increase in the past 12 or 18 months,” he says Science. The goal is to sow distrust of the West and science.
Since army leader Ibrahim Traoré came to power in the country in 2022, the narrative steeped in Anti -Western sentiments, according to it Africa Center. The ties with former colonizer France were broken and Russia is now seen as a reliable partner. Last year the Africa Center already wrote that Russia is involved in 40 percent of the disinformation campaigns. A large part of Target Malaria is financed by the Gates Foundation. For several years, the story has been spinded that Bill Gates is a “criminal” involved in “spreading malaria, HIV, Ebola and Covid,” according to it Africa Defense Forum. Target would also create malaria organic weapons.
Distrust against scientists is not new. In 2003, a polio vaccination campaign was born in Nigeria because the West would try to make men infertile and to increase the risk of HIV and cancer. In Cameroon, stories were circulating last year that the malaria vaccine had been made available to make girls infertile. In the US – where Minister of Health Robert F. Kennedy turns the distrust against scientists into policy – the coronavaccin is considered to implant chips.