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| Spraying Drone in Rugende Marshland on 10th March 2020 /Photo Andy Rugema |
On 10th March 2020 Rwanda launched a “zero malaria start with
me” campaign aiming at eliminating malaria by spraying larvicides
in their breeding areas using a drone
spraying technology in Rugende marshland located in Gasabo District, City of
Kigali.
The use of drone
technology is an added measure the government of Rwanda through ministry of
health is implementing to achieve the 2030 target of Zero Malaria in Rwanda.
This method kills mosquito larvae mainly in marshlands and other breeding sites
of mosquitoes unlike to the traditional means of spraying insecticides on
mature mosquitoes.
Dr Daniel Ngamije ,the minister of Health
labeled this technique as fighting an enemy in his headquarters. “We
will be killing mosquitoes where they breed from, in other words is to kill an
enemy on spot of his camps without waiting for him to reach your home. “He said.
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| Dr Daniel Ngamije , Minister of Health /Photo Andy Rugema |
The ministry of Health
assure the effectiveness of the mean as it is faster in spraying mapped and
well located space that houses mosquitoes with less man power and insecticides.
However Mr. Segore Teddy, Technical Director of Charis AUS who owns these spraying drones highlights the
advantages of using this drone technology than manual use.
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| Community Health Workers /Photo Andy Rugema |
“The advantage of
the drone technology is that you can spray more efficiently the product rather
than the manual way where you spray too much of the chemical and then spread
all of the body. This drone technology is able to spray the right amount in the
mosquitoes breeding sites, which makes it more effective and faster.” He said
He said that with this
technology the barriers of reaching certain location which is hardly reachable
when you are walking, with drone you spray easily by flying it over faster and
achieve more with it.
A flight can last 20
minutes upward and spray one hectare by 30 minutes , or like in a day you may
cover a couple of hundred hectares. And the drone carries the jerry can of 12 liters
of larvicides.
The ministry of healthy said that malaria is still a serious
disease for the country whereby each year about 3 million of Rwandans fall sick
of the sickness and some found death.
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| Mosquito Net /Photo Andy Rugema |
Though some measures have been taken to
fight this disease include the distribution of insecticide treated mosquito
nets with an aim to give out 7.5 million of them country wide; the government
also decentralized the health services through Community health workers who
treated 57% of malaria cases.
In addition the country is
looking forward to spraying insecticides in the households from the most classified
zones of malaria in southern province and Eastern Province; in order to achieve
the goals of Zero Malaria starts with me movement and the 2030 agenda of
eliminating Malaria on the African Continent.
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