Heather Ferguson

@drheatherferg.bsky.social

3254 Followers 942 Following

Prof of Medical #Entomology & Disease Ecology @uofgsbohvm.bsky.social & Visiting Scientist Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania. #Malaria #Mosquito #NTDs #GlobalHealth #Equity https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/bohvm/staff/heatherferguson

Screenshot of two news-related images about Cabo Verde. On the left, three officials stand holding a framed certificate beneath the headline: “WHO certifies Cabo Verde as malaria-free, marking a historic milestone in the fight against malaria.” On the right, football players celebrate on a stadium field beneath the headline: “Cape Verde shock Spain with historic draw on World Cup debut.”
Screen shot of the rankings of group c in the World Cup, with Scotland followed by Morrocco, Brazil and Haiti)
Photo of 3 people standing in front of blue wall with the WHO logo on it, at WHO HQ in Geneva. Left to right, Malaria and Neglected Tropical Disease Director Dr Daniel Ngamije Madandi, me (Prof Heather Ferguson ), & Prof Wende Enbiale As my Co-chair Prof Wendemagegn Enbiale and I start our term, we are very grateful to #Malaria and #NTD Programme Director Dr Daniel Ngamije Madandi for the opportunity to serve, and to all WHO colleagues and partners for continuing to work so hard to sustain progress against #NTDs despite the considerable challenges of the last years.
Picture of two women working a water pump , one is turning the crank, the other is collecting water. They are outside near a house, it is very sunny and bright
Picture of an African woman and chld walking down a road in the sunshine. There is greenery behind them. The child is holding a parasol/umbrella
Image of a boy taking a pill, with the banner reading "Two decades of progress against NTDs is at risk"
Photo of African healthcare worker/scientist smiling, holding a note book outside. The banner says "Historic progress has been agaisnt NTDS
hoto of 4 people standing in front of an whiteboard, in an office at the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) main headquarters in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in 2022. Left to right Prof Nico Govella (IHI), Prof Heather Ferguson (U Glasgow), Dr Dickson Lwetoijera (IHI) and Dr Prosper Chaki (IHI/Pan African Mosquito Control Associaton)
Figure 2.16 from 2026 WHO Global Report on #NTDS. This is a box plot showing the distribution of % population in countries incurring catastrophic out of pocket health care expenses by country income group: red bar - high income, green bar - low income, blue bar - lower middle income, purple - upper middle income. The median and interquartile range of all bars are overlapping.
Figure from the WHO Global Neglected Tropical Diseases Report 2025, showing the top 25 countries bearing the highest Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), broking down by NTDs in a stacked bar chart (countries along x-axis, DALYs on y-axis). Colours on bar chart represented NTD. Blaci is rabies, orange is schistosomiasis, grey is onchocerciasis, yellow is lymphastic filariasis, blue is Dengue, and green is 'other NTDs'. Of these 'top 25' NTD-DALY countries, the ranking from highest to lowest is India, China, Nigeria, DRC, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Brazil, Philipinnes, Pakistan, Cote d'Ivoire, South Sudan, Tanzania, Cameroon, Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, Bangladesh, Chad, Niger, Somalia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Ghana
Flyer for the Webinar - with text and photos. Title: COMSTECH Webinar on Impact of the Sudan Conflict on Vector-Borne and Neglected Tropical Diseases in Crisis, and Pathways Forward. Below is the photos of the 4 guest speakers: Dr. Sara Azhari Hassan, Director of the Communicable Disease Control Directorate, Primary Healthcare Directorate, Federal Ministry of Health, Sudan; Dr. Hamoda Toto, Directorate General of Global Health & Deputy Manager of GF-PMUFederal Ministry of Health &Former director of IVM department, Federal Ministry of Health Sudan; Prof. Dr. Ahmed Fahal, Founder & Director of the WHOCollaborating Centre on Mycetoma; and Prof. Dr. Maowia M. Mukhtar Bioscience Research Institute Sudan & EDCTP Senior Fellow. Below - photos of the lead moderator Dr Rasha Siddiq Azrag, University of Khartoum Sudan and Research Fellow State University of New York University of Buffalo, co-moderator Prof Heather Ferguson, University of Glasgow. Text on 'Objective' says "Join us as leading Sudanese scientists discuss the impact of the ongoing conflict on malaria, neglected tropical diseases and health systems, and key priorities for recovery. Time 11am-1:30pm Pakistan time, Monday Feb 16 2026. Registration link: https://comstech.org/comstech-webinar-on-impact-of-the-sudan-conflict-on-vector/
Gareth Jenkins, CEO Malaria No More UK, stands at a lectern giving a speech for World Malaria Report at UK House of Commons
Photo of Dr Sylvia Valentine delivering her talk on the history of the anti-vaccination movement in Scotland. She is sitting at the front of a lecture theatre in front of a slide that says "What preceded compulsory vaccination' (for small pox), with the bullet points under it reading -No cure -Folk remedies -Inoculation (variolation) first performed in Britiain in 1721 by Charles Maitland (1666-1748, Aberdeenshire) -The Suttonian method -Edward Jenner - Cowpox variolation/innoculation -Variolation prohibited from 1840 in England and Wales, and in Scotland from 1864 -Charitable schemes
A meme showing a photo taken on the set of the film 'Passion of the Christ'. Shows Mel Gibson sitting in a director's chair, arm outstretched towards the person setting next to him - the actor playing Jesus who is wearing a crown of thorns and covered in blood. Mel Gibson - who looks completely fine and unharmed - looks like he is telling something important to the actor playing Jesus, who is looking intently at him.
Photo of Professor Dominic Mellor from Public Health Scotland standing in front of a screen with a slide reading "Scottish Health Protection Network - Vector-borne disease subgroup, Workshop, Nov 4th 2025". Photo taken while he was delivering opening remarks to the workshop
Screen shot of the 2nd page of news article in British Medical Journal, Oct 31st 2025, with title "Are deadly mosquitoes, pathogen laden ticks, and waterborne infections being brought to the UK by climate change?" Article has interview with Heather Ferguson and other scientists discussing risk of vector-borne disease in the UK under climate change.
Screen shot of the 1st page of news article in British Medical Journal, Oct 31st 2025, with title "Are deadly mosquitoes, pathogen laden ticks, and waterborne infections being brought to the UK by climate change?" Article has interview with Heather Ferguson and other scientists discussing risk of vector-borne disease in the UK under climate change.
Picture shows Figure 2 from new paper by Dennis et al in Evolutionary Applications (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/eva.70173). The Figure has 4 panels - A, B, C and D. Each figures has dots of 2 different colours - the yellow indicates data from mosquitoes collected in clusters with the pyrethroid-pyriproxifen nets, and blue dots are data from clusters with the standard pyrethroid-only net. Analysis of spatial population structure and diversity. (A) Principal component analysis of An. gambiae samples, with variance explained by each PC in brackets. Panels B, C and D indicate between-cluster: Timepoint FST, within cluster: Timepoint π, and per-individual FIS by treatment and year, respectively. Yellow and blue points indicate control (0) and treated (1) sites and individuals, respectively.
Screenshot from panel discussion from the Al Jazeera Inside Story, Oct 22/2025. Shows images of 3 guests joining the panel by video link from Pretoria, Amman and Glasgow Left to Right - Dr Joy Phumphi, African Leaders Malaria Alliance, Dr Tanja Haj-Hassan, Paediatric intensive care and humanitarian doctor & Co-founder of @GazaMedicVoices, Prof Heather Ferguson, University of Glasgow
Banner advertising the talk by Professor Steven Spoel, FRSE, from the University of Edinburgh, that will take place at the University of Glasgow on Monday Oct 27th, 2025. Shows his talk title of: Breaking boundaries in Plant Sciences: Reflections on leading research and Championing Black Scientists. On the right side there is a picture of Prof Spoel. He is wearing a grey shirt, and glasses.
Five people from the Vectors & Infectious Diseases group at the School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow, standing together near the start of the Great Scottish Run. Left to right - Tasmin Alexander, Meshach Lee, Mimi Cox, Heather Ferguson & Francesco Baldini. They are smiling. Mesh, Mimi, Heather and Francesco are wearing running vests with the logo of Malaria No More UK
Six people standing in front of the Graham Kerr Zoology Building, University of Glasgow . Four are holding signs with the 'Malaria No More UK' logo. Left to right - Mary Ryan, Ryan Carmichael, Meshach Kee, Tasmin Alexander, Heather Ferguson & Francesco Baldini
The image is an advertisement for my talk. It has a title reading COMSTECH Expert Talk : Potential impacts of climate change on malaria vector control in Africa" Date: 24th Sept 2025. Time: 15:00-16:00 PST. Mode: Online. Dr Heather Ferguson, Profession of Infectious Disease Ecology, University of Glasgow UK. It has a photo of me, and a short biography as taken from my website (https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/bohvm/staff/heatherferguson/). Deadline for registration is Sept 23rd. Contact is mnoor@comstech.org. Registration link is in the post.
Photo of 3 people standing in front of the entrance (glass doors) of the Swiss Tropical Public Health Instittue in Basel, Switzerland. It is bright and sunny. From left to right is Heather Ferguson (external examiner), Tegemeo Gavana (successful PhD candidate) and Christian Lengeler (PhD supervisor). Tegemeo is wearing the traditional 'PhD celebration' hat - a tall black mortar board hat, with pictures of a mosquito and the Tanzanian flag showing
Photo of front of a food stand, white board with red letters and the top saving "Rock Dog", and "cheeseburger " along the bottom.
Cover of the book 'In extremis: the life of war correspondent Marie Colvin ' by Lindsey Hilsum. Shows black and white photo of Marie in late 40s/early 50s, from elbows up. She is wearing leather jacket and dark t-shirt. Hair is ponytail. Looking forward at camera, with black patch covering the eye that was damaged during shooting between Sri Lankan government forces and Tamil Tigers when she was on assignment.
Extract from Michael Rosen's article, describing his thoughts on stopping grief taint a good memory of his late son Eddie "Another thought: whether someone is alive or dead, the past has gone. When I sit in a state of regret and loss about Eddie as a child, it can (if I let it) be a place only and purely of regret and loss. It’s as if I say to myself, “That funny moment when Eddie found a dead mouse and thought it was a gerbil is sad because Eddie isn’t here any more.” Why do I do that? Why do I spoil that funny moment by smothering it with Eddie’s death? After all, that moment is no more “gone” than the scenes with any of my other children or the scenes with my father or mother or brother. So I tell myself I shouldn’t taint these fun memories with Eddie with the fact that he’s died."
Picture of 5 PhD Graduates in robes, standing under an arch at the University of Glasgow. Left to right Issa Mshani, Najat Kahamba, Andrea Kipingu, Joel Odero and Emmanuel Mwanga. It's a sunny day.
Picture of 5 people standing in the atrium of the James McCune Smith building at the University of Glasgow (from knees up). From left to right - Meshach Lee, Valerio Lhamine, Shennice Knight and Rose Kitoyi (all PhD students in the School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine), and further right - Heather Ferguson.
Image shows an outline of the globe in red tint, with a red pulse line running across it and the logo of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh above it. Text below gives details of the 'Environment and One Health' webinar that will be held on July 8th, with details of how to register
Picture of 4 colleagues standing outside the Rey Jaime Hotel in Barcelona,where the Gordon Research Conference on malaria was held May 25-29th 2924. Left to right - Nilani Chandradeva, Imperial College, Nakul Chitnis, Swiss Tropical Public Health Institute, Heather Ferguson, University of Glasgow & Fitsum Tadesse, Armauer Hansen Research Institute
Photo taken of table with Chairs and members of the WHO Secretariat immediately after the Pandemic Accord was officially approved at the opening session of #WHA78 on May 20th, 2025
Screen shot of table where the Chairs of the World Health Assembly meeting and WHO Secretariat have seats at the 78th meeting. Left to right - this is shows 17 people, including the WHO Director General Dr Tedros Gheybresus. The delegates are on their feet, clapping, immediately after reading out the unanimous vote to adopt the resolution on the global pandemic accord.
Photo of Dr Tedros Ghebreysus, Director of the World Health Organization, giving his plenary address at the World Health Assembly, May 19,2025. Image is from the live stream. You can see Dr Tedros from elbows up, speaking at a podium/desk, with an small image of the sign language interpreter in the bottom right of the frame.
Foreign aid cuts will cost lives, scientists warn Keir Starmer Lives will be lost because of cuts to foreign aid, a group of leading scientists have warned the prime minister. More than 130 academics have signed a letter to Sir Keir Starmer, warning that the world is on the brink of suffering a “devastating reversal of the remarkable progress made in combating Aids, tuberculosis, malaria and many vaccine-preventable diseases”. It warns that time is fast approaching to make good on a pledge Starmer made when the aid budget was cut that the UK would continue to play a key role in “supporting international efforts on global health challenges”. Downing Street announced in February that spending on overseas aid would be cut from 0.5 per cent of national income to 0.3 per cent to help fund an increase in defence spending. The pledge came hours before Starmer travelled to Washington for his first official meeting with President Trump, who had been demanding that Nato allies increase defence spending. He plans to raise it by £6 billion a year from 2027, and to hit 3 per cent of GDP by 2033. The letter was written by Timothy B Hallett, the associate director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College London; Tom Churcher, an epidemiologist at Imperial’s school of public health, specialising in killing mosquitoes; and Caroline Trotter, a professor of global health at Cambridge. It is signed by professors at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the Wellcome Sanger Institute, a non-profit genomics andgenetics instituteThe letter calls on Starmer to earmark funding for vital projects in the spending review next month “to ensure the UK continues to be a world leader”. It says: “As medical and public health experts working in the fields of infectious disease epidemiology and global health, we know the irreplaceable value of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance [a public–private global health partnership], and the Global Fund to Fight Aids,…
Golden Pavilion in Kyoto. Three storey pagoda sitting on edge of a pond, top 2 levels are embossed with gold. In background there is blue sky, and trees
Photo of cherry blossoms trees in bloom, from Tokyo park
Heather standing next to sign on Tokyo subway, pointing at the Kodokan stop. She is smiling
Photo of four scientists working on the Anostep project, standing in a line, taken at recent project meeting in Dar es Salaam Tanzania. L-R Dr Assalif Sifera, Armauer Hansen Rrsearch Institute Ethiopia, Prof Heather Ferguson University of Glasgow,and Mohamed Ibrahim & Dr Samatar Kayad, Ministry of Health Djibouti.
Photo of Dr Samson Kiware, Head of Data Science & Mathematical Modelling Department at the Ifakara Health Institute. He is sitting at his desk. In the window behind him, there is a view out over the city of Dar es Salaam .
Imagines shows an African woman holding a toddler on her lap. The woman wearing a pink headscarf. The toddler may be attending a health clinic, and is having their temperature taken with a thermometer under their arm. There is another African woman sitted in the background, holding a blue patterned back and wearing a yellow dress and headscarf. There is text over the bottom half of the image that reads "The U.S. has helped save nearly 13 millions lives from malaria this century". With the source being the World Health Organization
Picture of the front cover the autobiography of Haben Girma's autobiography, called: "Haben, the deafblind woman who conquered Harvard Law". The image is a side profile of Haben from head to chest, standing in front of a red background. Haben has shoulder length dark hair which is swept to one side. She is looking straight ahead (so towards the right side in this picture). She has a gold earring, and is wearing a navy -coloured short-sleeved dress. The title of her book and her name is written in white text over the lower half of the front cover.
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Photo of a page from the deaths register for August 1855, listing the reported causes of death in people in eight Scottish towns during this month: Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Paisley, Greenock, Leith and Perth . There is a row for recording of the number of deaths due to 'Ague' (commonly understood as malaria now) . No Ague deaths are listed for this month and year in these areas, although there are for other time periods (not shown in this photo).
Photo shows Dr Georgia Kirby (from waist up) standing outside near a tree, hanging a Biogents mosquito trap from a tree branch. The Biogents mosquito trap looks like an inverted funnel, with the wider part at the bottom, and a narrow end at the top. The top is black plastic ring with an opening. There is a source of carbon dioxide in the trap that draws mosquitoes into the opening. They then get trapped in the funnel, which is made of netting material supported by a wire frame. Georgia is wearing a black tshirt, has shoulder length dark hair and is wearing glasses.
Meshach Lee, a second year PhD student from the School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Glasgow, stands in front of his poster at the European Society for Vector Ecology conference in Montpelier, Nov 2024. The title of his poster is 'Field evaluation of 4 commercially available mosquito traps for collecting mosquitoes in Scotland"
Sunny day in Burkina Faso. Photo shows a military official pinning a?medal to the chest of De Antoine Sanou, a scientist from Burkina Faso whose research and work on malaria?control is being celebrated.
Photo of the Sighthill standing stone circle in Glasgow. 15 large stones (about 1-1.5m) in a circle, sky above is light grey and cloudy.