Identifying mosquito species is crucial for controlling malaria, and traditionally, this task involves health workers collecting mosquitoes from remote areas and transporting them to labs for identification. This process, while effective, can be time-consuming and delay crucial data sharing with local health authorities. However, a new app called VectorCam is transforming this approach.

Developed by bioengineers from Johns Hopkins University, VectorCam enables users to identify mosquito species using a smartphone and a low-cost camera lens. This innovation allows for rapid and accurate mosquito identification, which is essential for targeting malaria transmission more effectively.

The development of VectorCam was supported by the Gates Foundation, Makerere University, and the Ugandan government. Bill Gates praised the app in a blog post, calling it an "enlightening innovation" that is already making a difference in malaria control efforts in Uganda. He highlighted that VectorCam digitizes and aggregates data, providing health officials with timely and up-to-date information, a significant improvement over the traditional method of manually filling out and processing paper forms.