Wipe Out Malaria with Drones: Sierra Leone

A hospital in Sierra Leone, west Africa.

A patient here is suffering from the high fever of malaria.

Malaria infections are caused by bites from mosquitos infected with malarial parasites.

In 2021, around 247 million people were infected globally, and an estimated 620,000 died.

They did not want to come to hospital early because there is no money

or they want to try traditional medicine first.

If it doesn't work then they come to hospital.

They only rely on nature.

They have mosquito net, or you get into the - close your windows early, before 5 o'clock in the evening.

One firm is looking to wipe out malaria through the use of drones.

The drones seek out water that mosquito larvae might inhabit.

AI is then used to calculate where to distribute pesticides.

If we don't know where the larvae
are, why not just go find them?

In 5 years working with drones,
this was the moment for me.

In many ways, working in Sierra Leone is a more attractive prospect than rule-bound Japan.

I believe new innovation is coming from Africa.

It's innovation achieved through no small amount of blood, sweat, and tears.

Our firm made things that fly.
Now we capture creatures that fly.

Using drones to wipe out malaria: Meet the young innovators taking up this challenge.

The company behind this ambitious mission to take on social challenges through drones

does most of its development work in Japan.

In a month's time, CEO Kaneko Yosuke and his team will head to Sierra Leone.

They're doing a final check of the drones.

The bodies are made of low-cost polystyrene.

They're outfitted with off-the-shelf digital cameras.

And they don't need a runway.

Ready!

That's the best way to launch
in a remote area.

Above all, we need it to be economical.

All of their work is predicated on operating in an emerging nation.

Their drones follow preprogrammed routes using satellite data, maintaining a set altitude and speed.

They fly autonomously until they land.

Kaneko checks the camera footage.

The images seem ordinary, until the data is read by special software.

Just a few minutes of flight is enough to build a 3D map that can be examined from any angle.

The technology makes it easy to track stagnant pools of water that appear and disappear from one day to the next.

Pesticides are used on suspect pools to kill off any mosquito larvae before they can cause problems.

Eradicating larvae from stagnant water is one method of tackling malaria recognized by the World Health Organization.

The size of the pool influences
what kind of mosquitoes you can expect.

If any at all. Vital info for
fighting malaria.

Kaneko's team depart for Sierra Leone, hoping to take their service live within the year.

Sierra Leone lies on Africa's west coast.

It's home to around 8 million people.

Plagued by civil war and the rise of Ebola,

poor economic development has made it one of the poorest nations in the world.

Kaneko's company will work with Njala University, which has extensive expertise with public health programs.

The university worked with the government and UNICEF to build a drone test corridor

in the hopes of developing medical drone services.

This will be just the second flight in Sierra Leone for Kaneko and his team.

They quickly hit an unexpected snag.

We can't program the landing.
This area isn't on Google Maps.

The satellite images are old and don't show the drone corridor.

The Global South often
doesn't have accurate maps.

So we first need to check local
conditions and map the area.

They switch to manual control for part of the flight.

Kaneko's talented team will have no trouble building their own map to replace the old satellite images.

The footage captured by the drone is pieced together like a puzzle.

It creates a single photograph that's much clearer than the satellite images.

It's nearly 40 degrees Celsius, and local wireless coverage is patchy.

Yet the test flight proved that the team could still capture highly precise data.

As the tests continue, some drones suffer major damage.

But the team isn't fazed.

Because the drones are made of polystyrene, they can be repaired on the spot.

Eventually, the service will be handed over to local staff.

The team hopes they can leverage 3D printers to produce drones in the future.

If it can't be repaired,
it'll be useless to them.

Carbon fiber or plastic
would be unrepairable.

In between flights, the team goes shopping.

120 leones.

At the market, they find some plastic tubs.

Kaneko fills three with water to see how water depth affects temperature.

The key factors for
mosquito larvae are:

Water temperature, depth,
and nearby plant life.

We want to do local research
into habitable temperatures.

And how hot the water must be
to kill the larvae.

Funding is tight in Sierra Leone, and it won't be possible to use pesticides on every pool of stagnant water,

regardless of whether or not it hosts mosquito larvae.

Kaneko believes that water temperature and depth could provide clues that might help them calculate which pools are most at risk.

The goal isn't to fly drones.
It's to wipe out malaria.

So we're researching
the local environment.

That will guide us to real,
concrete solutions.

Kaneko worked at a leading drone company, and later the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency,

focusing on drone usage in developed nations.

But he began to feel less and less convinced about the practicality of drones.

Technology wasn't the issue.
It just took so much time.

New initiatives would be hindered
by regulations and frameworks.

And there was often no real need
for drones, either.

We have roads.
Why do we need to fly?

But in 2018, the Institut Pasteur
reached out from France.

They wanted us to fly drones
in Africa.

The institute wanted to use drones to deliver hepatitis-B vaccines in regions with limited paved roads.

Kaneko was inspired to set up his own firm in 2020,

hoping to use drones in countries where they were truly needed.

It's a matter of life and death.

True innovation won't come
from developed nations.

I'm convinced it will come from
Africa and the Global South.

But when Umeda Masaki arrived in Sierra Leone to launch a new medical drone project,

he discovered that there was no budget to either buy or transport the medications.

It simply didn't work as a business.

But there was a huge budget for
rapidly fatal issues like malaria.

Malaria was the key to
making this work as a business.

Satellites can't give us pool data
on demand.

But drones are much more flexible.

They can spot pools a person
wouldn't be able to.

We listened to people on the ground,
and we built from scratch.

Umeda proposed a project to wipe out malaria, and the firm pivoted to focus its efforts on this goal.

The project was praised by philanthropist Bill Gates, and hopes are high for a swift launch.

After finding pools of water with drones,

the next question will be how best to deploy limited pesticide resources.

Umeda has traveled around Sierra Leone to gather the data the team needs to make this assessment.

With the cooperation of local communities,

he placed sticky traps to monitor the mosquito population.

This one was placed here three months ago.

Since 2022, Umeda has visited five different communities.

He's become quite the entomologist!

Each location is very different.
There's huge variation.

Is no mosquitoes also good data?

Absolutely. We can think about
why there are none.

It's all to do
with the environment.

We want to do the test again.

Put it in the same place, the toilet.

Local residents are eager to help, having experienced for themselves the terrors of malaria.

Few weeks back I started be affected by malaria.

I was weak, I sleep too much, you know? I find it very difficult.

We have areas within our community which does malaria breeding.

We have stagnant water, we have bushy areas,

we have those things which I think these are the areas that malaria, the mosquitoes breed.

My cousin died of malaria
and left two children.

It was heart-breaking.

I had it too. The vomiting,
and the fever. Just horrible.

Understanding and support from local communities is crucial for the drone project.

They come to the community, are welcome so they can share the understanding with regards to healthy situation.

We're very happy because coming here to know how mosquitoes do disturb us.

We are trying to protect our health.

Thank you so much.

Thanks to that we could understand how our traps have been working

and what kind of countermeasures can be available in this situation.

It's really really appreciated and thanks so much!

After a week in Sierra Leone, the team has taken another step forward.

They've been in talks with Njala University about hiring interns,

and two students have come to learn more.

Both are studying public health, and have learned about mosquitoes and malaria.

They're fascinated by the drones - an uncommon sight in Sierra Leone.

Now 100 meters from the ground.

Look here.

From this movie we can make a very big map.

And what's in the map we find a water place, the water bodies,

and we go there and destroy the mosquitoes.

It's very good, very nice.

On site is the most important, is innovation.

Kaneko wants to collect vast amounts of data on what kind of pools attract mosquito larvae.

He'll use that to train an AI program.

I need the support of yours.

Actually, thank you very much.

We will do our best.

The interns will head out to the pools and lakes that the drones have found.

Let's wait around ten seconds.

Then after that, put into the water.

They'll use smartphones to record water temperature, depth, and whether or not larvae can be identified.

That data will reveal patterns and conditions for larvae habitats.

3, 2, 1, okay.

Then the temperature can be 34 Celsius degrees for this one.

They scoop out water and check it carefully for larvae.

There is none here.

Maybe you can do it five times.

And if there's no larvae, you can say that this is completely safe.

There's no larvae, I confirmed five times. You can say zero.

Here, water has collected on a concrete foundation.

Drone can detect this as water, potential breeding place.

This data is very very important.

If you can find out whatever you try.

But the pool's depth makes inspection difficult.

We take it out?

Yes.

So you can check where the water depth.

Yes.

That's right here.

Then you can make a real measurement.

Yeah, exactly. That's a really good idea.

Really good idea.

Just a few hundred meters from the first pool, they make a discovery.

Yes, yes, this is larva, yes.

Even it's dead, this is breeding site.

The interns have embarked on a long journey of data collection.

A new day.

Another three students have joined the team of interns.

They're naturally eager to help wipe out malaria.

But being the ambitious students they are, they're also focused on their future after graduation.

So we want to know what will be our look forward.

What will be our expectation after this training today?

Okay, so after this training, so actually we would like to ask the real taking data as the internship.

If the internship result is very good, and also the boss is okay, I am happy to work with you.

It's okay to answer?

Many young people in Sierra Leone struggle to find jobs, even with a university degree.

Kaneko hopes to help establish a new industry that will create employment.

These interns could form the core leadership of Sierra Leone's future drone industry.

Yesterday's students share their methodology with the newcomers.

When we do the first dipping, the first five times!

Passion for the project is spreading quickly among the young interns.

I've learnt a lot about the larvae and how science can be used,

and science can be used in health so it's very very good.

I've been, I've learnt a lot about mosquitoes and larvae collections,

but I've never implemented the practical on field.

Yeah, I'm very very impressed.

In Sierra Leone here there are many graduates with potentials

that are out there seeking job is something that is somehow only each of you, you know?

So if I am opportuned to be a part of Sora technology upon graduation, that would be a blessing.

It was really great!

I wasn't expecting so many
enthusiastic people. I'm shocked!

I'm so pleased.

The team hopes to launch their service within the year.

The same approach could be adapted for Zika and Dengue fever,

and Kaneko has ambitions to expand the firm's operations to other countries.

It's about adapting
the technology.

You need to be on-site,
listening to what people need.

It's the only way to create good
solutions. That's what we're doing.

It's thanks to our very skilled
and dedicated team.

We don't have to sacrifice ourselves to improve the world.

We do this because it's fun.

If we're going to do it,
why not make people happy?

Why not try something new?
It's more interesting.

It's hard work
but we're having fun!

One day, this drone could fly over a world free of malaria.