In Stone Town Zanzibar, Africa local researchers are using drones to map aquatic malaria habitats to find ways to better eliminate them.  Most malaria habitats can be located in shallow bodies of water, and are the source of most of the local mosquitoes. Every year, over 200 million people are infected with Malaria and over 500,000 of those people end up dead.

Zanzibar’s own malaria problems are well known, which is why the tiny African country has been the recipient of malaria medicine, insecticides and indoor nets for years. Now, public health officials and epidemiologists are working to complement these measures with additional solutions, and among these solutions is the use of drones to identify mosquito breeding grounds.

In the past, health care officials often had a difficult time identifying areas where mosquitoes like to breed. With the help of drone imagery, however, these areas are now easy to identify and their locations are easily recorded and identified on local maps. So far, the drone images have successfully identified mosquito habitats on river channels, roadside culverts, rice paddies and large bodies of dirty water.  The identification of such areas has helped local health authorities to apply larvicides, like DDT, more effectively, and has generally made larval source management easier for local authorities.

In the past, DDT was used indiscriminately, and although this measure could effectively kill off large amounts of mosquito larvae, they also harmed the local ecology, which led to human ailments as well as the loss of agricultural produce. This is why many public health officials were hesitant to use DDT on mosquito breeding grounds unless they know exactly where they are located.  The only problem is that identifying a mosquito breeding ground is usually difficult when performed on foot or even on a vehicle. With a drone, however, finding such places is very easy.

A single drone can survey a 30 hectare rice paddy in just 20 minutes, and then its images can be analyzed on the same day to find where bodies of water are located. Not only is this process accurate and efficient, it is also very affordable.

Most of the drones to survey mosquito breeding grounds are ordinary commercial type drones, so they don’t cost a lot of money. The only issue is training, which most local authorities are quickly trying to rectify. With the help of these drones, Zanzibar hopes to reduce its malaria problems in the years to come.