Join us to stop malaria!

A very strategic project to stop Malaria worldwide

Partner with Landcent on a fundamental human rights issue. A child dies every minute, every day from malaria. Together, we can stop it!

Urgency
Landcent Europe B.V., based out of the Netherlands, accelerates the fight against global diseases of poverty (starting with Malaria), by developing and delivering affordable, sustainable solutions that are safe to use at scale.

Poverty-related diseases (PRDs) are both caused by poverty and cause poverty. Diseases like malaria are especially ferocious among the poorest and most disadvantaged. Malaria is on the rise with 247 million cases reported in 2022. Every day, 1700 people die from the disease (over 600,000 a year!) , 77% of them being children below the age of 5. Landcent’s work focuses on Sub-Saharan Africa which unsurprisingly accounts for 95% of all malaria cases worldwide.

Insecticidal Resistance 
Insecticide resistance is a growing and complex challenge that threatens to derail the efforts to control and eventually eliminate malaria. 88 malaria-endemic countries have reported insecticide resistance, 29 of which confirmed resistance to all primary insecticide classes used in malaria prevention.

‘Widespread and increasing insecticide resistance poses a threat to effective malaria vector control. Failure to mitigate and manage insecticide resistance is likely to result in an increased burden of disease.’ – World Health Organization 

Impact on Biodiversity  
New biotechnologies and applications should go hand-in-hand with biosafety measures towards safeguarding biological diversity. Insecticides for instance have been linked to adverse effects on ecosystems, including direct toxicity on non-target organisms, food chain disruption, habitat destruction and water and soil pollution.

‘Despite ongoing efforts, biodiversity is deteriorating worldwide, and this decline is projected to worsen with business-as-usual. The loss of biodiversity comes at a great cost for human well-being and the global economy.’ – UNDP 

Landcent’s Response 
Landcent’s Active Ingredient (AI) Discovery Platform investigates without judgement and bias, natural and indigenous knowledge bases, for active ingredients to be eventually developed into biopesticides (PS. biopesticides can constitute naturally occurring organisms or substances derived from them that have lifespan-shortening effects on disease vectors such as mosquitoes). Biopesticides are usually inherently less toxic than conventional pesticides. They tend to affect only the target pest, are often effective in very small quantities and generally decompose quickly. Finally, the complex structure of natural occurring compounds could potentially make resistance less likely.

Our AI/ML platform bridges the gap between scientific discovery and traditional knowledge by screening a diverse range of local and indigenous knowledge systems (LINKS) and databases. This platform utilizes natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) algorithms to extract information on medicinal plants and their properties from various sources, including historical texts, community repositories, and expert interviews. By incorporating these often-overlooked knowledge systems alongside scientific databases, our platform facilitates the discovery of novel active ingredients with potential for biopesticide development. This bioprospecting approach aims to unlock a treasure trove of natural resources and contribute to the development of more sustainable and culturally sensitive pest management solutions, while simultaneously respecting the rights of local communities and ensuring equitable ownership over patents and revenues.

Impact 
By 2030, Landcent’s products, including Long-Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs) and Indoor Residual Spray (IRS) would protect 130M people across Sub-Saharan Africa, from Malaria. This includes close to 3M pregnant women and 65M children below the age of 5. Landcent’s Active Ingredient Discovery Platform will yield a new suite of sustainable compounds to control and contribute towards malaria elimination on the longer term. With every million invested, Landcent can protect 4 million people from malaria!

Funding
The total costs of the Active Ingredient Discovery Project are in total $ 6.8M for a 4-years R&D trajectory. It’s a great achievement that Landcent has build a strategic partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation who has funded 40% ($2.7M)! Landcent invites other donors active in the field of Global Health to become also a strategic partner in the AI initiative for the remaining 60% ($4.1M). They target to raise $3.1M through its own network in the USA.

Next to Landcent, MissionInvest USA will approach its own network to raise the remaining part of $1.0M donations for the abovementioned AI project. We aim to raise $1.0M donations in a 4-year period, which means $ 250,000 per year. MissionInvest’s commitment of €1 million will soon impact 4 million people in Africa! Please help us to achieve this fabulous ambition! 

In the past year, MissionInvest the Netherlands has been very successful in raising over $ 6M impact investment capital for Landcent’s short-term projects to fight Malaria.