Tsetse flies transmit some of Africa’s most persistent parasitic diseases. They have affected human health, livestock production and rural development for generations, across a region spanning millions of square kilometres in 37 sub-Saharan countries.
Human African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, is caused by two species of single-celled parasites. Others infect wild and domestic animals, causing animal trypanosomosis, often called nagana in cattle.
