Several articles have passed through this newspaper highlighting technological developments in the country. Most of us have come to take it for granted that we never see what we have until some visitor points it out. In fact, technology has literally taken over our lives that one wonders how we managed to cope before the mobile phone and the internet. The Ministry of Health is one government institution that realised early on that technology would be a key partner in the health sector. First of all, it supplied community health workers with mobile phones with which they convey to their hierarchical superiors daily health data in their neighbourhoods. The ministry is able to have real-time information and plan accordingly and this has really made an impact in the sector. Then came the drones, the biggest game-changer of all. They use them to deliver blood and vaccines to the most remote areas of the country very fast and many lives are saved in the process. Now authorities have found a new purpose for the drones in order to fight malaria. A World Health Organisation report says that last year was the first time malaria cases reduced since 2011. And thanks to drone warfare, the news might be better. The drones will be used to spray pesticides over mosquito breeding grounds such as swamps using pre-mapped routes, especially in Eastern and Southern provinces, areas most prone to malaria. With the recent investments in a new mosquito net factory, the war against mosquitos is bound to be a no march because for once, Rwanda Biomedical Bureau and other stakeholders hold the upper hand
