Zipline drone technology is using small, fast-flying drones to transform healthcare logistics in Africa. The company has been able to get important medicines and blood quickly to hospitals, saving lives and ensuring people don’t suffer lasting damage to their bodies because of lack of access to healthcare products and services.
This article celebrates innovation at its finest and explains how companies across Africa and beyond should prioritize such in Africa supply chains. The continent is ready for innovation!
The Challenges of Healthcare Logistics in Africa
Healthcare logistics and delivery across Africa face many problems, which makes it challenging for pharmaceutical and healthcare companies to get their products to people who need it. Some of these challenges include:Â
1. Remote and Rural Communities
Many people across Africa live in remote places with little or no access to adequate healthcare facilities. Even those with these facilities, whether a hospital or a clinic, find it difficult to access medical products on time for any number of reasons.Â
Some of these remote areas or villages may not have good roads, making it hard for medicines to reach them. And sometimes, when in transit, heavy rains can make the roads impossible to travel, causing delivery delays. Delays like this can and have been deadly when patients need urgent care.
2. Infrastructure Limitations
Unfortunately, only 40% of people living in Africa have access to reliable power supply or electricity. And the rural areas are the most affected. This means that storage of medical products can be difficult, prompting them to rely on deliveries from the surrounding cities, but even that is not a reliable strategy considering the issue with the roads we mentioned earlier.
Many clinics lack adequate storage infrastructure, so the patients suffer because they can’t get effective treatments. Deliveries using trucks can take days. Long distances, poor roads, and transportation issues slow everything down. Many medicines expire or arrive too late, affecting patient health severely.
Zipline Drone Technology Set Out to Transform Healthcare Logistics in Africa and Other Parts of The World.
Zipline began in 2014 to solve healthcare delivery problems using drones. The goal was simple: deliver life-saving medical supplies to hard-to-reach places quickly and safely.
How It Works
Health workers use a mobile phone to order medical supplies. Workers pack the requested supplies at Zipline centers and load them onto drones. The drone launches and flies quickly to the hospital or clinic. Upon arrival, the drone safely drops a package using a small parachute. It then returns to base, ready for another mission.
Behind-the-Scenes Technology
Zipline drones are specially built for speed and safety. Each drone can travel up to 160 kilometers round-trip at 100 kilometers per hour. The drones carry about two kilograms of medicine in insulated packages, keeping vaccines and blood cold and safe during the flight.
Zipline’s Real-Life Impact on Healthcare Logistics in Africa
The impact of Zipline’s drone technology can be felt across various countries and cities on the continent. The company’s technology has saved countless lives by supplying blood to women giving birth to accident victims and providing the necessary medicine to save trauma patients.
Here are some of the real-life impacts:
Rwanda: Revolutionizing Healthcare Access
In 2016, Rwanda became the first country to use Zipline drones. Before drones, it took hospitals three hours to get blood during emergencies. Zipline reduced this to just 15 minutes in some cases. Because of this quick response, fewer mothers and babies die during childbirth. Zipline now helps over 350 clinics in Rwanda every day.
Ghana: The Largest Drone Healthcare Network
Ghana started using Zipline in 2019, creating the world’s largest drone medical network. Today, Zipline drones now reach over 2,000 health centers across the country. It has also helped deliver more than 112,000 doses of vaccines—BCG, MR, PCV, and Pentavalent—to over 17,000 children living in four districts in Ghana’s Western North Region.Â
Thanks to drones, medicine stockouts dropped by 90%. During COVID-19, Zipline quickly delivered masks, test kits, and vaccines to remote places, saving countless lives.
Nigeria: Overcoming Geographic and Logistical Barriers
In 2022, Zipline launched operations in Nigeria. Before that, large rural areas in the country struggled to get medicine. However, Zipline improved medical supply speeds significantly, quickly ensuring vaccines and other medicines reach even the most distant villages.Â
Early results show better health outcomes for patients in rural communities. The company has successfully delivered millions of vaccine doses, essential medicines, and more than 260 types of health products to more than 900 hospitals, health facilities, and community drop points.
Transformative Impact of Zipline’s Drone Technology
Zipline’s drone technology has revolutionized medical care in Africa. And the numbers do not tell enough of the stories. People and hospitals across the continent now enjoy streamlined healthcare logistics that have ensured the following:
1. Life-saving Speed and Efficiency
Zipline drones make deliveries within 30 minutes, not days. Patients get treatment faster, which saves lives, especially in emergencies.
2. Reduction of Medicine and Vaccine Stockouts
Before drones, hospitals frequently ran out of medicine. Zipline deliveries mean medicines and vaccines are always available. Health workers spend less time worrying about shortages and more time helping patients.
3. Enhanced Visibility and Data Management
Zipline tracks every drone delivery using digital systems. This helps hospitals know exactly how much medicine they have and when new supplies arrive. Better tracking means fewer mistakes, less waste, and more lives saved.
4. Expanding Access to Healthcare
People in remote areas can now receive essential healthcare. Zipline drones reach villages previously serviced regularly by healthcare teams, greatly improving community health.
Lessons for African Healthcare Supply Chains
The Zipline healthcare logistics operations in Africa have shown what is possible through the correct combination of technology, innovation, and willpower. African health supply chains must step up if there will be a radical transformation of the healthcare sector across Africa.
Here is what we can do:
1. Prioritize and Invest in Innovation
Healthcare companies, including hospitals and pharmaceuticals, must invest in optimizing their logistics and supply chains with the latest tech solutions. Artificial Intellgence is here and is poised to be revolutionary. It can help make all the difference. Innovation solves old problems, making healthcare faster and more reliable. Zipline proves that investing in new ideas saves lives.
2. Ensure Strategic Partnerships
Strong partnerships and collaboration help drones integrate easily into healthcare systems. Zipline showed this by working closely with governments and local health authorities. Other organizations on the continent can follow this example and build partnerships to strengthen healthcare logistics and delivery.
3. Embrace Data-Driven Supply Chain Solutions
Using real-time data will improve healthcare logistics in Africa. Zipline’s drones provide accurate, live information about medicine supplies and deliveries. Health centers can make better decisions quickly, ensuring no patient goes untreated due to shortages.
Obinabo Tochukwu Tabansi is a supply chain digital writer & ghostwriter helping professionals and business owners across Africa explore various strategies that work and learn from the success and failures of various supply chains across the globe. He also ghostwrites social content for logistics & supply chain businesses
