Malaria: Aberystwyth University drone system used in Zanzibar

Image source, Aberystwyth Univeristy

In the semi-autonomous islands of Zanzibar, drones and smartphones are being used to fight malaria.

Malaria-carrying mosquitoes use water pools to breed.

It is the first time that drones have been used in an intervention programme.

More than 400,000 people are killed by the disease each year.

The archipelago of the disease is being eliminated by the programme.

Female Anopheles mosquitoes are the main spreader of the malaria parasites.

The parasites are passed into the bloodstream when a mosquito bites a person.

It's hard to find and treat the mosquitoes before the adults emerge because it's hard to predict when the breeding sites will develop.

The lecturer at the Department for Geography and Earth Sciences at Aberystwyth University decided to look at the problem from a different angle.

He said that the things on the ground are difficult, but as soon as you get that perspective, you can see it come alive.

Image source, Aberystwyth University

Some areas of the rice paddy are flooded with water and others are dry.

Where do you find your resources? To places that are wet.

He said this kind of technology could change the world.

The drones provide precise and accurate mapping for the teams on the ground to treat the water pools.

It is seen as an efficient way of targeting difficult to find bodies of water and an important tool as countries try to eradicate Malaria.

Image source, Faiza Abbas

The deputy programme manager of the Malaria Elimination Programme in Zanzibar, Faiza Abbas, sees the new approach as an important step towards eliminating Malaria.

She said that the project has been helpful in terms of reaching and identifying the breeding sites, but also in terms of expenses.

We are determined to use this technology to make sure we are capturing almost all the breeding sites because when you talk about Malaria, there is no way you can leave behind the breeding sites.

It is a really important technology.

The project is funded by the Innovative Vector Control Consortium (IVCC), which was established in 2005 with an initial $50m grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Image source, Mark Latham

This project is an example of why it is important to consider different approaches, according to Mark Latham, a consultant with the IVCC.

I hope that this will open people's eyes to new technologies.

I think looking outside the box is always important, because Andy is a geographer and he is looking at bringing in expertise from outside of entomologists and epidemiologists.