Eyes in the sky: a cross-sectional study to assess community perception and acceptance for drone usage in vector surveillance and control

Abstract Background The threat of vector borne diseases has been continuing to burden and overwhelm our health systems for a long. The traditional methods of vector surveillance are often time consuming, labour intensive, and may have operational limitations, particularly in large or inaccessible areas. In this era of technological advancements, unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, have emerged as a promising tool for various public health applications such as mapping of breeding habitats and targeted delivery of control measures. For the successful implementation, the acceptance and perception of this newer technology by the community is sine-qua-non, and this study was done with the same objective. Methods A total of 406 participants between the age group of 18–65 years, were recruited in this observational descriptive study in urban and peri-urban population with mixed housing types. The data was collected using pre tested structured questionnaire mobile based Open Data Kit. Statistical analysis and visualization were performed using R (Version 4.5.1). Data was summarised using means, range for continuous data, and frequencies, percentages for categorical data. Chi-square test of association was applied on selected variables to find association with acceptance of drone technology. Results Out of 406, 349 participants were found to be willing to participate in community awareness session, whereas 334 respondents said they would allow the drop to fly over their households for mapping of larval breeding sites. About 80% of the participants perceived the drone usage for vector control as safe, and believed better mosquito control can be achieved by using drones. About 70% of the participants believed that the drones can spray insecticide or larvicide with precision and believed it can replace the traditional methods of mosquito surveillance and control. The drone was perceived to be costlier but more effective than present methods by a large majority of the participants. Conclusions High community acceptability of using drones for vector surveillance and control was found along with positive community perception, as most of the participants considered this technology safe and useful.