The AIM-COST program promote the scientific exchange between research institutions working on Aedes invasive species though Short Term Scientific Missions. During the "5th international workshop on Aedes albopictus" in Montpellier, where IRTA-CReSA presented the VECTRACK project, one entomology researcher that works in Maldives expressed his interesting in a future collaboration.

Thanks to the aid of the AIM-COST program, this collaboration was possible and we brought the VECTRACK prototype to Kunfunadhoo Island in the Republic of Maldives in October 2022. The work plan was designed by IRTA-CReSA and IRIDEON, together with “Culex Maldives” in order to test the efficacy of the sensor in discriminating the genus and sex of Aedes and Culex mosquitoes in a tropical environment with a different species composition. The mission consisted in designing a protocol with the mosquito control technicians in the island, to be implemented by them.