Page 9 - Science in Africa

Doctor Elioda Tumwesigye Extraordinary professor Baldwyn Torto

Innovating HIV Leading the way

research methods in pest control

octor Elioda Tumwesigye, MBChB, MPH, is a physician and aldwyn Torto, fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, fellow
epidemiologist. He is currently the minister of science, of the Entomological Society of America, extraordinary professor,
Dtechnology and innovation of Uganda. BUniversity of Pretoria and principal scientist, International
Prior to that, from July 2013 to February 2015, he served as state Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, was born on August 17 1955 in
minister for health (general duties), and later as minister of health Accra, Ghana.
from March 2015 until June 2016. Torto completed his BSc with honours in Chemistry and
In Parliament, Doctor Elioda has served on the parliamentary Biochemistry (1979), and an MSc (1982) and PhD (1988) in Organic
standing committee on HIV/Aids (as chairperson); sessional committee Chemistry at the University of Ghana, with his PhD research having
on information, communication and technology; and sessional been in insect chemical ecology.
committee on social services (as vice-chair overseeing the health and In January 2017, Torto was appointed extraordinary professor by the
education sectors). senate of the University of Pretoria, South Africa, for his contributions
He was one of the founder members and chairperson of the to research and training of PhD students at the university.
HIV/Aids advisory group of the Interparliamentary Union, which Torto is internationally recognised for his research on the chemical
brings together members of Parliament from more than 150 countries. ecology of vectors of infectious diseases and pests of crops and
He was also Uganda’s delegate to the Forum for the Afro-Arab pollinators. He has spent much of his career of 30 years conducting
Parliamentarians on Population and Development. research to better understand how chemical signalling used by
Doctor Elioda is an active researcher in the field of HIV/Aids terrestrial arthropod pests impact on human and livestock health,
prevention and treatment. He served as site principal investigator for agriculture and the environment in general, and how such knowledge
the Partners PrEP study and the Partners Demonstration project. can be exploited to control these pests.
He has served as lead researcher/principal investigator of studies Torto has pioneered work into novel targets as sources for the
on communicable diseases and has published in peer-reviewed development of more efficient semiochemical-based tools for
journals as well as made scientific presentations in various monitoring populations of malaria vectors by exploiting their plant-
international conferences. Through his efforts, he has pioneered a feeding behaviour. He identified novel plant-based attractants with
number of social enterprises and organisations in healthcare delivery potential for development as potent lures for monitoring of Anopheles
and research, and agricultural development. vector populations, especially outdoors and requiring minimal
Doctor Elioda is the executive director of Integrated Community application of carbon dioxide.
Based Initiatives (ICOBI), a nongovernmental organisation operating He also led research that documented that plant feeding was an
in Uganda that pioneered the full-access, district-wide, door-to-door invaluable resource important in the survival and fitness of both the
HIV counselling and testing programme in the district of Bushenyi Anopheles vector and the Plasmodium parasite, which could be exploited in
and is now implementing it in six other districts of central Uganda. vector control. He additionally investigated the role that invasive plants
From 2009 to date, as principal investigator (PI) and co-investigator can contribute to the transmission of malaria, raising global awareness
of the Uganda site, Doctor Tumwesigye has worked in partnership on the threat posed by invasive weeds on public health in general.
with the University of Washington and the Human Sciences Research Recently, he initiated work on entomophagy, an area increasingly
Council (with Doctor Heidi van Rooyen from the HSRC as the South being recognised as having a huge potential to feed the ever-growing
African PI) on a series of studies evaluating the effectiveness of the rural and urban population in Africa. Specifically, he has demonstrated
door-to-door testing approach in linking people to testing, male the nutritive value of the desert locust and edible stink bug, a popular
circumcision and antiretroviral treatment. food widely eaten in the southern African region and demonstrated
Under his leadership, ICOBI has implemented various programmes mitigation strategies to reduce the risk against aflatoxin contamination.
ranging from nutrition and early-childhood programmes to income Torto has also been a leader in the training of the next generation of
generation to HIV/Aids interventions and research. globally competitive scientists in chemical ecology across the globe.
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