Ouagadougou – Burkina Faso’s president, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, has announced a decisive ban on the controversial project backed by Bill Gates, which introduced genetically modified mosquitoes that critics say are making malaria-carrying mosquitoes more dangerous.
The initiative, known as Target Malaria, is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Open Philanthropy, the latter operating through the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
With Burkina Faso now pulling out, the project continues in Ghana and Uganda. Most of the modified mosquitoes are produced in the United States, Italy, and the United Kingdom, three countries that critics describe as imperial powers driven by financial interests and rarely accountable for projects they run on African soil.
“The enclosures containing the genetically modified mosquitoes have been sealed since August 18, 2025, and all samples will be destroyed according to a specified protocol,” the government said in its statement.
The project has faced mounting criticism for using Africa as a testing ground, with support from the African Union. Opponents accuse the AU of bowing to pressure from what they call neocolonialist and capitalist oligarchs such as Gates without safeguarding the wellbeing of African people.
The decision has ignited debate across Africa and beyond. Detractors argue that such initiatives represent a modern form of neocolonialism, with foreign actors treating African populations as test subjects—drawing comparisons to colonial medical exploitation and the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study which saw black people being deliberately infected by syphilis.
One commentator praised the move on social media: “I am proud of my government… African countries must stay away from these organizations. They are not in Africa for our own good. We need to take care of our own health systems. Kick them out!”
Supporters of the ban also link the surge in malaria cases between 2019 and 2021 to genetically modified mosquitoes. “Those GMO mosquitoes are making the natural mosquitoes more dangerous,” one social commentator tweeted.
The move is being hailed by Pan-Africanist voices as a bold stand against Western influence in African health and agricultural policy. Traoré has been hailed for the ban, saying it reinforces his mage as a defender of African sovereignty in the face of powerful imperialists and neocolonisation.
