Nov 09, 2020 | Blog

In the Wings of Hope: Combating COVID-19 through Drone Technology Applications in Africa

In the Wings of Hope: Combating COVID-19 through Drone Technology Applications in Africa

Authors: APET Secretariat

This post is the 5th in a blog series to be published in 2020 by the Secretariat on behalf of the AU High Level Panel on Emerging Technologies (APET) and the Calestous Juma Executive Dialogues (CJED).

Life, as we know it in our societies, have changed since the advent of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic; the world is now in the dispensation of a “new normal”. Consequently, this has significantly impacted the way of life and culture of Africans, like the rest of the world. For example, activities such as travelling, going to work or school daily, going to restaurants and places of entertainment, or simply hanging out with friends have been tremendously regulated by governments around the continent, in taking unprecedented quick actions to curb the spread of COVID-19. However, by so doing, some challenges have become opportunities towards harnessing emerging technologies to directly fight the pandemic and to improve on our way of life. The continent has had to speedily catch up with the fourth industrial revolution culture with the increased utilization of innovation and emerging technologies such as drones in addressing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Figure 1: Drones are the safest and fastest means of delivering medical supplies (personal protective equipment, COVID-19 test kits, test results), but also samples from hospitals to laboratories with minimal personal contact to prevent viral transmission. Samples of COVID-19 flown 45 miles away for analysis in hospital SOURCE: APET White Paper on Harnessing Innovation and Emerging Technologies to Address the Impact of COVID-19 in Africa

Healthcare practitioners and facilities are increasingly overstretched due to the pandemic and African countries are in dire need of medical supplies and access to laboratory testing facilities more than ever. To address these challenges, drones have proven to be the most reliable, safest and fastest means of delivering medical supplies to remote clinics and samples from hospitals to laboratories. Drones (also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs) are playing a crucial role in enabling African governments and institutions to prevent the further spread of the corona virus. Most specifically, technologically sophisticated drones are providing reliable, fast, and remote medical delivery services in Africa. In countries such as Ghana and Rwanda, this technology provides healthcare facilities, particularly in rural and remote areas, with much-needed medical supplies, medical equipment and consumables, urgently needed blood samples and testing devices, among others. These transportation and delivery services are efficiently executed and accomplished through the use of all types of drones in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Besides the delivery services that drones provide, other applications of drones include disease surveillance as a strategy to fight against the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. For example, it was observed in several African countries such as Egypt, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda that drone-enabled surveillance can be used to contain the spread of the virus. Additionally, drones have also been effective in measuring temperatures of individuals under surveillance with infrared temperature detecting cameras installed in them. To improve efforts of protecting workers, several African countries’ private and public institutions have replicated this technology towards monitoring their workforce for symptoms. In some of these African countries, drone-enabled technologies focused primarily on disinfecting streets after the outbreak.

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Figure 2: Drones equipped with loudspeakers were used to broadcast messages, encouraging citizens to respect confinement measures, social distancing, wearing a mask and follow good respiratory hygiene. It’s also a way to keep an eye on the streets and control crowds. SOURCE: APET White Paper on: Harnessing Innovation and Emerging Technologies to Address the Impact of COVID-19 in Africa

 

Beyond health facilities and disease surveillance, drones are being utilized to curb misinformation on the pandemic through communication on measures taken by governments and recommendations of health experts to support communities in remote areas lacking proper channels of communication. This is done through the mounting of speakers on the drones and playing of recorded messages. In addition, local police officers have been using drones to monitor people’s movement and break up social gatherings that could pose a risk to society. Furthermore, the application of drones has enabled the monitoring of vast areas without physical engagement or confrontation, in keeping with the WHO social distancing protocols. Thus, the introduction of drone technologies at this time of crisis has greatly assisted some African countries to reduce the risk of spreading the infection.

In addressing increasing food insecurity on the continent, precision agriculture drones are being used to disinfect fields with pesticides, monitor plant growth and soil viability in countries like Ghana and Nigeria. These drones are also enabled through artificial intelligence technologies to detect crop stresses such as water shortages and diseases. This means farmers can analyze stressed crops and seek solutions to address strains in their crops more conveniently and efficiently to sustain food production, especially during these unprecedented times.

Even though African countries are embracing drones in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, several hurdles are preventing the harnessing of its full potential.  As a result there is a need to enact enabling policies that can guard regulatory frameworks, investment and business opportunities, and awareness of the drone technology at national, regional, continental levels. Additionally, there is a need to address privacy and security breaches that may result from the widespread use of drone technology.

The African Union High Level Panel on Emerging Technologies (APET), in its report:  “Drones on the Horizon: Transforming Africa’s Agriculture” highlighted critical areas that need intervention. The panel calls for the development of a continental regulatory framework for the use of drones or UAVs in Africa, and to harmonize policies across countries and regions (regional economic communities). The panel further calls for enhancing South-South and regional collaborations, partnerships, networks and knowledge-exchanges to facilitate the upscaling and use of drone technology. A widespread adaptation and robust awareness programmes of drone technology will also address misinformation that portrays the drone technology as witchcraft and/or magical planes.

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Figure 3: Drones were used to spray disinfectants on hard-to-reach areas. The drone carries around 15 litres of disinfectant and could cover a 1.5 km section in 15 minutes. This technique is very similar to what is done in the field of Agriculture to fight against  crop and plant  diseases. SOURCE: APET White Paper on: Harnessing Innovation and Emerging Technologies to Address the Impact of COVID-19 in Africa

In conclusion, despite the larger absence of regulatory and policy frameworks pertaining to drone technology across the continent, their widespread use during the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates its potential utilization by decision-makers and policymakers. The call is for African Union Member States, and other national, regional and continental developmental agencies to work towards enacting conducive and enabling policy and legislative frameworks that can unlock the full potential of drones during COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 era. There is also a call to strengthen skills and capacity that can drive the operational aspects of the drone technologies. Evidently, this crisis offers a great opportunity to increase the deployment of drone technologies to combat COVID-19 and address other health issues in Africa during the pandemic and beyond.

 

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