Abstract
BackgroundThere is a growing awareness that if we are to achieve the ambitious goal of malaria elimination, we must compliment indoor-based vector control interventions (such as bednets and indoor spraying) with outdoor-based interventions such as larval source management (LSM). The effectiveness of LSM is limited by our capacity to identify and map mosquito aquatic habitats. This study provides a proof of concept for the use of a low-cost (< $1000) drone (DJI Phantom) for mapping water bodies in seven sites across Zanzibar including natural water bodies, irrigated and non-irrigated rice paddies, peri-urban and urban locations.ResultsWith flying times of less than 30 min for each site, high-resolution (7 cm) georeferenced images were successfully generated for each of the seven sites, covering areas up to 30 ha. Water bodies were readily identifiable in the imagery, as well as ancillary information for planning LSM activities (access routes to water bodies by road and foot) and public health management (e.g. identification of drinking water sources, mapping individual households and the nature of their construction).ConclusionThe drone-based surveys carried out in this study provide a low-cost and flexible solution to mapping water bodies for operational dissemination of LSM initiatives in mosquito vector-borne disease elimination campaigns. Generated orthomosaics can also be used to provide vital information for other public health planning activities.
Highlights
There is a growing awareness that if we are to achieve the ambitious goal of malaria elimination, we must compliment indoor-based vector control interventions with outdoor-based interventions such as larval source management (LSM)
The aim of this study is to provide a proof of concept for the use of low-cost (< $1000) drones for mapping water bodies as targets for LSM
This represents a scale and resolution that is sufficient for operational surveying of water body habitats at the community scale including water bodies amongst rice paddies, culverts and associated water bodies, river channels and streams, natural water bodies such as springs and smaller pools of water associated with borrow pits at the side of roads (Fig. 9)
Summary
There is a growing awareness that if we are to achieve the ambitious goal of malaria elimination, we must compliment indoor-based vector control interventions (such as bednets and indoor spraying) with outdoor-based interventions such as larval source management (LSM). The effectiveness of LSM is limited by our capacity to identify and map mosquito aquatic habitats. The widespread use of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor residual house spraying has helped to supress malaria transmission across sub-Saharan Africa by targeting vector mosquitoes with a preference for feeding and resting indoors, such as Anopheles gambiae (s.s.) [1, 2]. The widespread use of indoor-based interventions in Zanzibar has led to a reduction in malaria prevalence from 40% in 2005 to between 0.2 and 0.5% in 2011/12 [3, 4] These interventions have limited effect for species that show a tendency for feeding and resting outdoors, such as An. arabiensis, which are beginning to dominate transmission throughout sub-Saharan Africa [5,6,7,8]. Several studies have successfully used medium-resolution imagery (5–30 m pixels) from systems such as Landsat and SPOT to map water bodies or land cover types associated with malaria transmission
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