A national atlas of the distribution of tsetse flies in Côte d'Ivoire.

African animal trypanosomosis (AAT) is one of the major diseases of livestock in Côte d'Ivoire. However, the lack of comprehensive, nationally aggregated data hinders the rational planning of control measures and the estimation of their impacts on disease transmission. To address this shortcoming, the Institut Pierre Richet (IPR, Ministry of Health) and the Directorate of Veterinary Services (Ministry of Livestock) embarked on the development of a national tsetse flies and AAT in Côte d'Ivoire. The atlas is a dynamic, georeferenced database on the distribution of disease and its vectors, and this article focuses on the tsetse component of the initiative. All data on tsetse flies collected by the IPR between 2005 and 2024 were retrospectively compiled, georeferenced and harmonised. The data originate from 20 of the 31 regions of the country, and from 3164 sites, corresponding to 5696 trapping events and an overall trapping intensity of 13,181 trap days. Monoconical and, to a lesser extent, biconical traps were used. A total of 27,493 tsetse flies belonging to eight species from the three groups of Glossina were captured. In addition to being the most abundant species, G. palpalis (84.36% of the captures), was also the one with the widest distribution across the country (i.e. 19 of the 20 study regions). The atlas produced provides important evidence for planning tsetse surveillance and monitoring control activities at the national level. However, as next steps, it will be crucial to include also data collected by other stakeholders, to extend surveys to areas of the country not yet covered, and to enhance, finalize and publish the already developed AAT component of the atlas.