This app uses computer vision to identify malaria-carrying mosquitoes

Identifying mosquitoes is essential for controlling the spread of malaria. In countries like Uganda, health workers have the monumental task of collecting mosquitoes from remote locations and taking them back to labs for species identification; the data is then shared with local health authorities. But now, mosquito species can be identified by simply clicking a picture of it on an app called VectorCam.

Developed by a team of bioengineers from Johns Hopkins University in the US, VectorCam allows anyone with a smartphone and an inexpensive camera lens to distinguish among the different species of mosquitoes that transmit malaria. (Mosquitoes that carry malaria belong to the genus Anopheles)