The World Mosquito Program (WMP) is joining forces with Debug by Alphabet to explore a strategic collaboration that could significantly accelerate efforts to protect global communities in the fight against mosquito-borne diseases.

These diseases kill more than one million people and infect up to 700 million each year. Almost one in ten people. The collaboration will combine WMP’s proven disease-blocking Wolbachia method with Debug’s cutting-edge automated release technologies, to rapidly deploy Wolbachia mosquitoes at scale across impacted regions. 

WMP’s Wolbachia method has already demonstrated success across the globe, significantly reducing the ability of aedes aegypti mosquitoes to transmit viruses such as dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever.  A randomised controlled study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed a 77% reduction in dengue incidence in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, while further results in the Brazilian city of Niterói and Colombia’s Aburrá Valley have shown the lowest number of dengue cases — between 2020 and 2023 — in more than 20 years.

The collaboration brings together two global leaders in the fight against vector-borne disease. Debug has developed proprietary technology that includes automated rearing robots, AI powered visual sex sorting systems, data surveillance, and release platforms to efficiently deploy Wolbachia suppression programs in several countries. By integrating Debug’s technology, WMP is able to cover larger areas effectively and at speed, to protect more people from the devastating effects of mosquito-borne diseases.

WMP’s goal is to reach the greatest number of people in the shortest amount of time. "Debug's automated release technologies have the potential to significantly increase the speed and efficiency of our Wolbachia releases," says Scott O'Neill, WMP’s CEO and Founder. "This helps accelerate our goal of protecting as many people as possible worldwide."

Kieran Walters, Executive Director of Strategy and Partnerships at WMP, shares O’Neill’s enthusiasm.

“We are thrilled to form an alliance with Debug to combat one of the biggest global health threats of the 21st century,” he says. “By combining our technologies, we can deliver an integrated solution to protect vulnerable communities from mosquito-borne diseases on an unprecedented scale.”

Linus Upson, founder of Debug, said: “We are excited about the opportunity to partner with WMP. In addition to utilising the technology we have built to deliver Debug's proven Wolbachia suppression programs, we can provide our proprietary technology to deliver automated releases in WMP’s Wolbachia programs worldwide. This is an exciting moment to unify groundbreaking biological and technological achievements to make a global impact.”

Together, WMP and Debug are working toward a future where these preventable diseases no longer threaten vulnerable populations across the globe.

Find the full press release here. 

For all media related enquiries: 

World Mosquito Program
Alex Jackson
Global Editorial & Media Relations Manager
alex.jackson@worldmosquito.org 

Debug
Press and Media Relations
press@debug.com