A technology focused strategy is emerging at the forefront of Ghana’s malaria elimination efforts following Deputy Minister of Health Dr Rashida Ayensu-Danquah’s call for proactive prevention at a regional gathering in Accra that showcased drone and artificial intelligence (AI) powered interventions.
The two day summit held at The Palms by Eagle Hotel was convened by the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) of the Ghana Health Service in partnership with AGA Malaria (AGAMAL) and SORA Technology. It brought together health leaders, policymakers and technology experts from 13 African countries to advance tech enabled Larval Source Management (LSM) strategies aimed at eliminating malaria.
Delivering the keynote address, the Deputy Minister stressed the need to move beyond reactive treatment models toward data led prevention systems that target mosquito breeding grounds before transmission occurs. She stated that if Ghana is to end malaria, the country must outpace it by leveraging innovations that can predict, detect and respond with precision.
Dr Ayensu-Danquah, who is also Member of Parliament for Essikado-Ketan, described prevention as not just a strategy but a public health responsibility, stressing that technology now provides governments with tools to intervene earlier and more efficiently. She noted that despite decades of global progress, malaria remained one of the world’s most persistent public health threats, claiming about 610,000 lives in 2024 with most deaths occurring in Africa.
The Deputy Minister revealed that the global funding gap for malaria control stands at 5.4 billion dollars, with only 42 percent of required resources currently available, while international health assistance continues to decline. She emphasized that this funding reality makes technological efficiency and strategic resource allocation even more critical.
Central to the workshop held under the theme From Mapping to Action: Tech-Enabled LSM for Malaria Elimination was the introduction of an integrated toolkit designed to modernize larval source management across Africa. The system combines drone mapping and artificial intelligence to identify breeding sites with greater accuracy, digital micro planning tools to guide resource allocation, and real time monitoring platforms that enable field teams to execute targeted interventions based on live data.
Officials explained that drone enabled aerial surveillance reduces the time and cost associated with ground mapping, while AI assisted detection improves the precision of identifying stagnant water bodies that serve as mosquito habitats. The digital micro planning framework is expected to strengthen operational efficiency by aligning logistics, workforce deployment and treatment schedules with verified data.
Real time monitoring systems would enhance accountability and programme performance by allowing health managers to track interventions and adjust strategies promptly. The workshop brought together participants from Ghana, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Mali, Benin, Tanzania, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Zimbabwe to share best experiences and leverage best practices.
Professor Samuel Kweku Dadzie, Associate Professor of Medical Entomology at University of Ghana, stated that technology driven Larval Source Management remains critical to accelerating malaria elimination in Ghana and across Africa. He explained that vector borne diseases including malaria posed a major public health challenge in tropical regions, noting that West Africa was no exception.
Professor Dadzie disclosed that Ghana began implementing Larval Source Management about five years ago as part of the National Malaria Elimination Programme. The initiative was fully funded by government, a key factor in its sustainability according to the medical entomologist.
He stated that LSM had been integrated into Ghana’s malaria strategic plan, with the programme gradually adopting innovative technologies including drone based mapping developed by SORA Technology. Professor Dadzie explained that one of the major challenges with larval source management has been implementation as it is very labor intensive because people have to physically search for mosquito breeding sites.
The use of emerging technologies such as AI and drones had transformed the process, making it easier to map breeding sites, identify mosquito habitats and even detect mosquito species with greater accuracy according to Professor Dadzie. He stated that instead of deploying large numbers of people, drones can now be used to map breeding sites efficiently and support targeted interventions.
Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, stated that Ghana had made significant progress, recording 74 malaria deaths in 2024 down from 146 the previous year. He emphasized that innovative interventions leveraging technology remain essential for sustaining and accelerating elimination efforts.
A peer reviewed study published in PLOS One on February 4, 2026, provided field evaluation evidence of the technology’s effectiveness. The research conducted in Ghana showed that drone assisted mapping led to more than a threefold increase in the number of identified breeding sites, while AI based targeting reduced larvicide consumption by over 60 percent.
The combined technologies lowered worker requirements by approximately 50 percent according to the study. Despite these resource reductions, malaria case trends in intervention sub districts remained comparable to those in control sub districts, demonstrating that the technology delivered substantial resource savings without compromising vector control outcomes.
The research was supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) under the framework of international technical cooperation. The study noted that Ghana uses VectoLex WDG, a biological larvicide containing Bacillus sphaericus, as the standard product for operational LSM activities under NMEP protocols.
Dr Ayensu-Danquah commended the collaboration between public institutions and private technology partners, describing it as evidence that Africa is not waiting for solutions but actively developing context specific innovations. She emphasized that malaria elimination requires sustained political will, cross border coordination and structured knowledge sharing among endemic countries.
The workshop further strengthened Ghana’s standing as a regional leader in digital health innovation within malaria control. The gathering of continental stakeholders under one platform reinforced technology’s role as a strategic enabler of national health policy.
SORA Technology raised 2.5 million dollars in January 2026 to scale drone, satellite and AI solutions across Africa according to company announcements. The Japan based health technology company has deployed solutions across more than 10 African countries including Ghana, Sierra Leone, Benin, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Kenya and Mozambique.
The company signed memorandums of understanding with multiple African countries and institutions at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9), establishing frameworks to support malaria elimination efforts through drone and AI powered mosquito breeding site detection, risk classification and targeted insecticide application.
Ghana’s malaria control efforts benefit from lessons learned across the continent. The workshop highlighted the growing importance of LSM particularly in the face of invasive mosquito species such as Anopheles stephensi, which thrive in urban environments and present new challenges to malaria control.
The technology driven approach represents a shift from conventional methods that involved spraying every water body regardless of larval presence. The new system enables targeted application only at high risk sites identified through AI analysis, sharply reducing larvicide use and labor costs while maintaining or improving effectiveness.
