The IVCC is a major research consortium which will develop new and better ways to control the transmission of insect borne disease. Five leading research institutions – the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of California at Davis, California, Colorado State University and the Medical Research Council, South Africa – form the IVCC, which received a $50 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in November 2005.
During the past three decades, there has been little progress in developing new insecticides for public health use in combating vectors (such as mosquitoes) which carry diseases such as malaria and dengue. Inefficient deployment of pesticides and the growth of pesticide resistant insect strains have contributed to a situation where malaria, a disease which was eradicated from the developed world many years ago, is on the increase in Africa and now kills 2,000 children every day.
The IVCC has been established to address these problems by developing a portfolio of chemical and technological tools that will be immediately accessible to populations in the developing world.