Drones for improved health
The use of drones in healthcare includes delivering life-saving medical supplies, dispersing organisms for biological control, and surveying dangerous locations. Across Africa, the inadequate road and communication infrastructure, particularly in rural areas have been notable barriers to healthcare delivery, and evidence indicates that drone application in health can contribute immensely towards improved outcomes.
The African Union, through AUDA-NEPAD, has recommended using drones to address the critical infrastructure and developmental issues impeding the continent’s socioeconomic growth. While the current focus is on improving agriculture, drone technology has a tremendous opportunity to address infrastructural challenges in healthcare delivery.
The African Union High-Level Panel on Innovation and Emerging Technologies (APET) has urged African countries to formulate an enabling policy environment and implement an ecosystem necessary for African drone technology.
Countries and main actors
Pilot projects on drones in Africa have largely focused on the use of these unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to facilitate the speedy delivery of medical supplies and medications to areas that are remote or hard to reach, while some have focused on their use for malaria control and elimination.
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and Zipline
In 2016, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched the world’s first national drone delivery service to reduce the time taken to deliver life-saving medical supplies and vaccines to regions where health facilities are spaced out across mountainous terrains. The drones and delivery service are built and operated by Zipline, in partnership with UPS and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
In 2019, Ghana launched a medical drone delivery network, also in partnership with Zipline and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi, 2019). In 2020, the country distributed COVID-19 vaccines to healthcare facilities using Zipline drones.
MoH Malawi
Since 2016, Malawi’s Ministry of Health, along with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the NGO VillageReach, has worked to use drones to deliver maternal health supplies and to optimise the country’s health supply chain.
MoH Senegal
In 2017, Senegal’s Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the NGO PATH, began to assess how drones can transform the health supply chain system, focusing on their usefulness, health impact and cost-effectiveness. A project is now being implemented in Foundiougne district, Fatick region – where its island geography has isolated health facilities – to deliver essential drugs and collect medical samples.
Government of Botswana
The Drones for Health project in Botswana was launched in May 2021 as a collaboration between the country’s Ministry of Health and Wellness and Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology; the Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST); the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); and Dutch drone company Avy, to deliver maternal health supplies and commodities such as obstetric care drugs, with the aim of reducing preventable maternal deaths .
African Drone Academy and Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust
In Malawi, researchers working with the African Drone Academy and Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust (MLW) are exploring drones to map larval habitats for larviciding, as a complementary intervention to existing strategies in the fight against malaria.
African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA), Kenya
In 2021, the president of the Republic of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, who also serves as the Chair of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA), flagged off the use of drones in the larviciding of mosquito habitats in several counties in Kenya.
Policies guiding the use of drones
