When drones first came into the aviation industry, they were and have been mainly used for surveillance and assessments of disasters. In Malawi, it is and will be the first time the drone technology is used in the continent to conduct health research in improving HIV services. The country started testing the use of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to try and cut down on the time it takes to test for HIV in infants living in rural areas. Mothers are still waiting up to 2 months for those test results and that can be a very long period in an HIV positive infant’s life. The research, being run by the UN children’s agency (UNICEF) is currently using simulated samples. The first successful test flight recently completed a 10 kilometer route, travelling from a community health centre to a laboratory of Kamuzu Central Hospital located in the capital Lilongwe. According to Judith Sherman, Head of UNICEF’s HIV and Aids programme in Malawi, there are many delays in the continuum of getting HIV positive children on treatment. “They need to come in early for testing, ideally before 2 months, between 6 and 8 weeks, their tests and the dry blood […]
