Innovative approaches to exploit host plant metabolites in malaria control

Malaria is the most important vector-borne disease in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Recent reports indicate that the levels of malaria-associated mortality and morbidity in SSA have remained the same. Malaria vectors have modified their feeding behavior in response to the selective pressure from indoor-based interventions, and there is emerging malaria parasite resistance to artemisinin-based combination therapies. These challenges have created an altered malaria landscape, especially within local scales in some malaria-endemic countries in SSA. To address these challenges, complementary new strategies are urgently required for malaria control. This paper argues that to develop the next generation of vector and chemotherapeutic tools for malaria control, especially based on natural products with novel modes of action, a better understanding of mosquito bioecology and, more importantly, plant sugar feeding is needed. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.