In recent times, Rwanda has made significant progress in improving the health of her citizens.
Although the country is on the fast track to achieving her Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the health sector of Rwanda still suffers from slow medical deliveries.
Despite a severe medical experts and staff shortage, the few health workers in the country are faced with the challenge of having medical deliveries like human blood, which will be used for transfusions during surgeries or complicated childbirths, or to treat young victims of malaria.
Due to this challenge, Rwanda has a very high rate of maternal and child mortality. According to a journal posted on the National Institute of Health website
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4735162/
Rwanda has the highest average annual rate of maternal death; 1071 deaths per 100 000 live births.
To reduce the annual rate of maternal death in Rwanda, the Government partnered with a Silicon Valley drone delivery company from the United States of America.
ZIPLINE USES DRONES TO DELIVER MEDICAL SUPPLIES
image source: twitter.com
Because of the many hills in Rwanda and the rough topography, it is hard for on ground delivery of medical supplies to hospitals and clinics in some part of the country. The country is a low-income country and may not have the fund for a large air delivery system.
Using a low-cost air system is the only option on the table; in a location where the drone technology was relatively new, Zipline came to the rescue. Zipline team up with a team of tech savvy local Rwandese to groom the project by running test flights to deliver human blood to hospitals in the remote part of the country.
The Zipline Rwanda Team
The team's ultimate vision is to put each and every of the 11 million Rwandese within 15 to 35-minute delivery on any essential medical product that they could need.
The truth is, that is a revolutionary idea for any country in the world as it takes more time in some developed country.
You should watch this seven-minute video about the Zipline project in Rwanda.
With this team, Rwanda has been able to reduce the average annual rate of maternal death by 9%. From 1071 deaths per 100 000 live births in the 2000s to 320 per 100 000 live births now.
That is another 780 lives saved with the medical delivery services of the Zipline team. Below are some of the images about Zipline Drone Services
Gallery source: twitter.com/zipline
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