The centre
A certified trial centre, rooted in Bouaké for nearly thirty years, serving manufacturers, WHO and the national programme.
Proving what protects against mosquitoes
VCPEC-IPR evaluates the efficacy of products that control the mosquitoes transmitting malaria and other diseases, from the laboratory to whole villages, following WHO guidelines and under GLP quality assurance.
- Laboratory
- Experimental huts
- Villages
- WHO guidelines
- GLP quality assurance
- centre founded, with IVCC, LSHTM and Penn State
- 2016
- permanent staff or so, researchers, technicians and managers
- 37
- major studies carried out from 2023 to 2025
- 8
- specialised units, from the insectary to the GLP archives
- 9
What guides us
- Proof before promise
Every result can be traced back to raw data, every claim points to a published study.
- The field as a laboratory
Wild mosquitoes, huts built like local homes, villages of the Gbêkê region. Products are tested where they will be used.
- An international standard
Studies run under the OECD Principles of GLP and WHO guidelines, usable for prequalification.
A centre of Institut Pierre Richet
VCPEC is hosted by Institut Pierre Richet, the Bouaké branch of the National Institute of Public Health and a WHO collaborating centre for entomology. It has its own management, technical teams, quality assurance unit and procedures, with wide scientific and operational autonomy.
Milestones
- 1997
Beginnings at Institut Pierre Richet
Raphaël N'Guessan starts medical entomology at IPR with IRD, on the early phases of the WHO Pesticide Evaluation Scheme (WHOPES).
- 2003
Resistance documented
The teams report Anopheles gambiae resistance to carbosulfan in Côte d'Ivoire, linked to a less sensitive acetylcholinesterase.
- 2013
WHOPES-labelled M'bé station
The M'bé experimental hut station near Bouaké is described as a WHOPES-labelled site for product evaluation.
- 2016
VCPEC is founded
The centre is founded through a partnership between IVCC, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Penn State University, within Institut Pierre Richet.
- 2018
Resistance mapped nationwide
A nationwide map of Anopheles gambiae resistance is published, the same year as a first series of hut trials on new nets.
- 2019
Official inauguration
The centre is officially inaugurated, with its laboratories, insectary and the M'bé hut station.
- 2021
A trial published in The Lancet
The cluster-randomised trial of the lethal house lure (window screening and EaveTubes) near Bouaké appears in The Lancet.
- 2023
OECD GLP certification
SANAS certifies the centre compliant with the OECD Principles of Good Laboratory Practice for efficacy studies of insecticidal products.
- 2024
New-generation nets
A three-arm randomised trial compares chlorfenapyr, PBO and pyrethroid-only nets in Côte d'Ivoire.
- 2026
From evidence to action
With its partners, the centre publishes a case study on strengthening insecticide resistance management in Ivorian malaria control.
Training the next generation
The centre is also a place of learning, where entomologists, biologists and vector control technicians are trained for Africa.
- Supervision of master's and PhD students, from Côte d'Ivoire and abroad
- Interns, technicians and visiting scientists trained in medical entomology, molecular biology and vector surveillance
- Teaching at Université Alassane Ouattara in Bouaké and Université Nangui Abrogoua in Abidjan
- For every technician, a path from supervised practice to independent work, then to trainer status