Rodrigue Fiacre Ahoumènou Agossa

Rodrigue Fiacre Ahoumènou Agossa is a public health entomologist with more than 12 years of experience in control and elimination of infectious diseases, particularly malaria control programs. His expertise includes project management; research; vector control tools development and evaluation; case management; and health system strengthening. He also has worked on development, consolidation, and popularization of norms, policies, and guidelines for the fight against malaria and neglected tropical diseases. He has collaborated with the Global Fund, World Health Organization, Against Malaria Foundation, and Ministry of Health.

Agossa has served as the chief of party (COP) for the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) Evolving Vector Control to Fight Malaria Project (Evolve) in DRC since 2023, providing technical assistance to the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) to support its efforts in monitoring malaria vector bionomics, insecticide resistance, and distribution of bed nets. He directly supervises three staff members and more than 40 subcontractor staff members.

Prior to his current position, he served in the same role with the PMI VectorLink Project between 2017-2023. As COP, he set up polymerase chain reaction equipment in entomological units at the Institut National de Recherche Biomedicale (INRB) in Kinshasa. He helped the NMCP set up the Vector Control Working Group and the field teams in 26 sentinel sites in the DRC’s 26 provinces. Agossa also developed the PMI Africa Indoor Residual Spraying (AIRS) project’s DRC national insecticide resistance management plan. Before joining Abt, he served as the malaria focal point for Centre de Recherche Entomologique de Cotonou (CREC) for the implementation of school-based distribution of long-lasting insecticidal nets. He conducted advocacy visits to targeted districts, led macro and microplanning sessions, and supported coordination committees at all levels in the distribution chain.

Key Projects:

• PMI Evolve Project
• PMI VectorLink Project
• PMI AIRS Project

Publications:

• Christopher M. Jones, Milindu Liyanapathirana, Agossa Fiacre, Hilary Ranson, Martin J.Donnelly & Craig S. Wilding. Footprints of positive selection acting upon the knockdownresistance allele are associated with a novel mutation (N1575) in the voltage gated sodium channel of the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae s.s. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109 (17), 6614-6619, 2012.
• Francis Wat’senga, Fiacre Agossa, Emile Z. Manzambi, Gillon Illombe, Tania Mapangulu, Tamfum Muyembe, Tiffany Clark, Mame Niang,Ferdinand Ntoya, Aboubacar Sadou, Mateusz Plucinski,Louisa A. Messenger,Christen Fornadel, Richard M.Oxborough, Seth R. Irish. Intensity of pyrethroid resistance in An. gambiaes.l.before and after a mass distribution of insecticide treated nets in Kinshasa and from 11 provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Malar J. 2020; 19: 169.
• Oxborough RM, Seyoum A, Yihdego Y, Dabire R, Gnanguenon V, Wat'senga F, Agossa FR, Yohannes G, Coleman S, Samdi LM, Diop A, Faye O, Magesa S, Manjurano A, Okia M, Alyko E, Masendu H, Baber I, Sovi A, Rakotoson JD, Varela K, Abong'o B, Lucas B, Fornadel C, Dengela D. Susceptibility testing of Anopheles malaria vectors with the neonicotinoid insecticide clothianidin; results from 16 African countries, in preparation for indoor residual spraying with new insecticide formulations. Malar J. 2019 Aug 1;18(1):264.
• Agossa FR, Padonou GG, Fassinou AJYH, Odjo EM, Akuoko OK, Salako A, Koukpo ZC, Nwangwu UC, Akinro B, Sezonlin M, Akogbeto MC. Small-scale field evaluation of the efficacy and residual effect of Fludora® Fusion (mixture of clothianidin and deltamethrin) against susceptible and resistant Anopheles gambiae populations from Benin, West Africa. Malar J. 2018 Dec 29;17(1):484.
• Nathan Green, Fiacre Agossa, Boulais Yovogan, Richard Oxborough, Jovin Kitau, Pie Müller, Edi Constant, Mark Rowland, Emile F. S. Tchacaya, Koudou G. Benjamin, Thomas S. Churcher, Michael Betancourt, Ellie Sherrard-Smith. An evidence synthesis approach for combining different data sources illustrated using entomological efficacy of insecticides for indoor residual spraying. PLoS One. 2022; 17(3): e0263446.