Hm, I dunno. Malaria was effectively eliminated in "developed" countries due to access to vaccinations and healthcare. I think these resources would be much better allocated to improving healthcare and infrastructure in African countries, rather than permanently altering ONE type of animal to take care of only a handful of illnesses. There could very well be unintended consequences down the road when it comes to mutating them, which could cause more problems than they solve. But there are no downsides to improving healthcare, in fact doing so would help with many problems apart from Malaria.
So if I had to choose between a plan which has ANY chance of causing an ecological disaster, and improving access to healthcare in Africa, I would choose improving access to healthcare. Perhaps this would be an option if healthcare was as consistent and accessible in all African countries as it is in "the west," and malaria still remained a problem. But to me this seems like investing a lot to treat a very specific symptom, rather than looking at the root of the problem. I realize it's more difficult since every African country is different and has a different set of problems, but I don't see that as an excuse to resort to unilateral and potentially dangerous solutions.
My brother works as a liaison between our church organization and the country of Mozambique. He has made several trips there, and his job is to examine what they need and see how best we can use our resources to help them improve their condition in sustainable ways. One thing people very often forget when they want to help the people of a foreign country is that the people in that country are not helpless. They are doing all they can for themselves, and they do not appreciate some outsider swooping in trying to solve all of their problems without ever consulting them, or considering how their culture and government operate. My brother specifically uses the term "white savior" in his talks to emphasize what we should avoid when approaching African countries. They are proud of who they are and what they have, and wish to improve their lives by their own sweat and toil. Of course they'll never turn away help, and are extremely gracious and thankful for whatever help they are offered (On his most recent trip, a church had used most of their last year's offerings to give him a goat, which is EXTREMELY valuable. He graciously accepted it, then later gave it to a breeding program which gives goats to communities in need). But they want to be active participants in these improvements, and want to have a say in integrating new resources and changes.
But to be perfectly frank, a lot of their problems exist BECAUSE of outsiders swooping in and acting without their consent. In the case of Mozambique, it was colonized by Portugal beginning in the 1500s, and they only left Mozambique completely in the 1970s. When they left, it was not under good terms, and they tore up a lot of the infrastructure they had built, and littered huge swathes of the place with landmines. This left not only a huge mess for the people to deal with, but also a power vacuum which still hasn't fully stabilized into an effective government for all the country's people. The country was declared landmine-free by the UN just last year. It's also difficult for Mozambique to communicate with surrounding countries because Portuguese is still a major language in the country, and no other African country was colonized by Portugal.
Perhaps it's because of this that I'm more wary than most of things like this, but the persistence of malaria and dengue fever in Africa are only the symptoms of larger problems. I realize these people mean well and perhaps it would ultimately be a good thing for the continent, but the approach just doesn't seem right to me. I try to think of how I would feel if some foreign country came and altered the DNA of the wildlife in my country without my consent, and I can't imagine I'd feel very happy or gracious. Because inevitably this isn't something that could be deployed to individual countries, it would have to be a sweeping thing which would affect the entire continent. That just doesn't sit well with me.
