MSF trials drones in PNG's TB crisis

Transcript

Medicins Sans Frontieres says the first trials of drone technology to tackle tuberculosis in Papua New Guinea by providing better treatment access have been successful.

A programme manager for MSF says the agency is working with an American company Matternet, which makes the unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs, capable of carrying TB samples, results and medicines in remote areas.

Eric Pujo told Jenny Meyer about the trials.

ERIC PUJO: MSF France is currently running a project in Papua New Guinea since July in the Gulf Province. And our team is facing a lot of challenges. Challenges of people who are not able to complete their treatment because they are living too far and drugs are not accessible. And there is also a problem of diagnosing TB in this area. We are speaking of a very, very remote area in this province.

JENNY MEYER: So how does it actually work? Are you flying samples with the drones or medicine or both?

EP: The tests were done with samples from the health centre to Kerema Hospital. The samples are packed in a very safe environment to avoid any spread of course. And we made several tests and we managed to have some successful results.

JM: And this has been a trial, are you going to put it into action? And what sort of future do you see the use of drones in fighting tuberculosis in Papua New Guinea? It's a pretty, like you say, remote place and yet you're using this very futuristic technology?

EP: It was really a trial because we wanted to know if it was feasible to use this technology in this kind of environment. Now we are still in discussions with Matternet for the next phase and we are still hoping that we will be able to deploy this technology in Papua New Guinea.

JM: And it must really save people a lot of time, particularly people who are having to travel like you say in quite treacherous conditions and environments when they are sick?

EP: Yes. We made a test between one health centre to the hospital and by car it's between 4 or 5 hours in between the two locations and by use of the UAV we were able to make it in 55 minutes.

JM: That's pretty impressive. Do you think it is likely to go ahead?

EP: As I was saying we are still in discussions and one of the biggest challenges we face so far is the range of this kind of technology. And it's something that we already discussed with Matternet to see if we can have longer range. Because  its making around 30 kilometres and you have to change the battery, which is not long enough for the remote health centre.

JM: And who's paying for the project to be trialled and implemented?

EP: The trial has been in fact cost shared between Medicins Sans Frontiers and Matternet. Matternet brought the technology and the technical human resources and MSF was taking care of transport issues and accommodation and all the movements of the team in PNG.