How Do You Fight Malaria In Tanzania? With Drones!
Monday, November 11, 2019
By Andrew Wight
When the specially-designed DJI Agras MG1-S drone rose over a rice field in Cheju, Tanzania and started to deploy its payload, it was the culmination of years of effort towards one goal: fighting malaria.
Every year in the eastern African country of Tanzania, malaria infects more than 10 million people killing 80,000 – and until now eradication efforts have been largely focused on costly and time-consuming manual spraying.
“Entomologists Bart Knols from Radboud University in the Netherlands and Richard Mukabana from the University of Nairobi in Kenya and social entrepreneur Guido Welter – also from the Netherlands– came up with the idea to use drones to spray a non-toxic, biodegradable control agent called Aquatain AMF in rice paddies (breeding habitat) to kill mosquito larvae,” said Leka Tingitana has lived in rural Africa for more than 10 years and is the managing director of Tanzania Flying Labs, which trains locals in new technical and business skills, finds new uses for robots and incubates new businesses.
Source: Forbes (link opens in a new window)
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