Malaria remains one of Africa’s most devastating, persistent, and economically crippling diseases. The continent recorded 246 million cases and 569,000 deaths in 2023 alone, representing 94% of global infections. A child under five still dies every minute mostly in countries like Nigeria, Ghana, and the DRC, where the disease is deeply entrenched. Against this reality, Japanese-founded SORA Technology is introducing a radically different approach that blends drones, satellite intelligence, and AI-driven risk scoring to reshape malaria control across Africa.
Mary Yeboah Asantewaa, the company’s African Business Lead, speaks with the clarity of someone who has lived with the disease’s impact. Growing up in Ghana and working across multiple West African markets, she has seen malaria not just as a health issue but as a constant drag on economic productivity. She notes that about 90% of Africa’s population is affected annually, costing the continent an estimated 1.3% of its GDP every year.
SORA’s premise is simple but powerful: the fight against malaria demands precision. Instead of deploying human teams to roam fields and neighbourhoods searching for stagnant water, the company uses drones to scan entire districts. Abuja, Lagos, Accra, or elsewhere capturing high-resolution terrain images that feed directly into an AI system. The AI identifies water bodies and then distinguishes which ones actually contain mosquito larvae. Out of 100 pools, it can flag the 70 that pose real risk and rule out the rest. The shift is transformative: the goal is no longer to “spray everywhere” but to “spray only where it matters.”
Once risk maps are generated, SORA routes field teams to high-priority sites through a mobile app that displays red and green pins and optimises the fastest pathways. Workers then apply WHO-approved biolarvicides, while drones handle locations that are dangerous or unreachable by foot. A controlled study in Ghana evaluated independently by the Noguchi Memorial Institute and the University of Ghana found that SORA’s method cut mapping time by up to 90%, reduced labour costs by 70%, and lowered total operational expenses by 27%. For governments grappling with budget constraints, this is not an efficiency upgrade; it is a fundamentally different cost model.
Nigeria is among SORA’s top priorities. The company is currently in discussions with the National Malaria Elimination Programme and several state governments, including Akwa Ibom. Asantewaa hopes to begin full-scale operations by January 2026. The appeal is clear: a geospatial, AI-powered system aligns with WHO’s insistence on continuous reapplication. After every rainfall, new breeding grounds emerge meaning interventions must be ongoing, targeted, and data-driven.
SORA’s wider ambitions extend beyond malaria. Its “Agri-Intelligence Room” uses satellite data and AI to forecast outbreaks of cholera, dengue, and Zika, giving governments predictive tools they have historically lacked. In agriculture, another cornerstone of African development, the company now deploys drones and sensors for soil analysis, crop-health monitoring, waterlogging detection, and land-level insights. It has completed projects on cocoa and rice farms in Ghana and plans to introduce spraying drones to Ghana, Nigeria, and Benin beginning January.
The company’s rise signals a broader shift in African governance and development strategy: a move away from manual, broad-stroke interventions toward precision, transparency, and measurable impact. Donor agencies and investors are taking notice, increasingly favouring solutions that pair advanced hardware with deep on-the-ground understanding.
Asantewaa is careful not to oversell SORA as a silver bullet. But she is confident that Africa is ready for tools that bring accuracy and accountability to problems long treated with blunt-force solutions. “We want to support Africa within the resources we have,” she says. “We just need the right collaborators.”
