Rwanda to use drone technology to combat malaria

Government of Rwanda has ventured into a partnership with Charis Unmanned Aerial Solutions to utilize drones in combating malaria.

Rwandan government's effort in association with a local drone technology company to give its community a relief from malaria-carrying mosquitos is commendable. This kind of drone is fitted with a 10-litre tank that can carry insecticide, follow pre-mapped routes and spray and spread it over fields that host mosquito larvae, which mostly live in stagnant water.

"While this has been used elsewhere, we believe this is an innovation in Rwanda because we are going to do things differently," Charis Unmanned Aerial Solutions' CEO, Eric Rutayisire Muziga said in a conversation with The New Times.

According to Eric Muziga, the drones are capable to fly for around 15 minutes on a single battery and ability to spray an area of 40 hectares in a day. Such drones make sense where they replace labour-intensive and use of back-pack sprayers, which are deemed to be inefficient.

Rwanda Biomedical Centre's Division Manager (for malaria and parasitic diseases), Dr Aimable Mbituyumuremyi assured that they are on the verge of finalizing the partnership with the drone-building company with a hope that the technology would bring more benefits in the fight against malaria.

"We are negotiating to see how this technology can help us in malaria control because the same technology has been used in other countries to control mosquitoes," he added.