Experts from the WHO Vector Control Advisory Group (VCAG) met in a hybrid meeting with product developers, innovators and researchers from 3 to 6 October 2022 for the 17th VCAG meeting. This report details the proceedings and outcomes of the meeting, including advice provided to applicants working on interventions in the following intervention types: sterile males, population suppression induced by gene drive, insecticide treated nets, endectocides and spatial repellents.

“Preferred product characteristics” (PPCs) are key tools to incentivize and guide the development of urgently needed health products. The PPC published here describes the characteristics of new types of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) to control malaria transmission in areas with insecticide-resistant mosquito populations. The document was developed to address the public health need caused by the evolution and spread of insecticide resistance, particularly to pyrethroids. Such resistance threatens the effectiveness of the current standard of malaria vector control in many countries, namely pyrethroid-only long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs).

This report provides a comprehensive, global overview of antimalarial drug efficacy and the resistance of malaria parasites to the antimalarial medicines used between 2000 and June 2010. Policy-makers in national ministries of health will benefit from this document, as it provides both a global and a regional picture of the efficacy of the antimalarial medicines currently used in national treatment programmes. In addition, the report will be a reference for scientists, enhancing their understanding of the complexity of antimalarial drug resistance.