AI Drones Accelerate Malaria Elimination

Zanzibar is deploying AI-powered drones to identify and treat mosquito breeding sites as malaria prevalence in Tanzania falls to just 0.04%.

“Technology alone is insufficient without public buy-in,” said Makame Mohammed Kombo, Head of the Malaria Unit in Pemba, highlighting the importance of community cooperation.

The TZS 1 billion project uses drones to map breeding habitats in difficult terrain within hours, compared with up to three days for manual surveys, enabling teams to target precise locations with biolarvicides. Malaria prevalence has fallen from 40% two decades ago, while deaths declined from 29 in 2023 to nine in 2025, with no fatalities recorded between January and April 2026. The initiative combines AI mapping with community-based surveillance and could provide a model for malaria elimination elsewhere in Africa.