Sky is the limit for drones in saving mothers and babies in Tanzania-A U.K. funded project.

Zipline

The Department for International Development (DFID) has given funding for a project to deliver blood and medicine to rural areas of Tanzania, a country with very high Maternal Mortality rates due to blood loss during childbirths.[1]

The project involves Zipline, a Silicon Valley start-up that began running a similar service in Rwanda in October and is funded by U.K.

The zipline drone

Zipline team 

Zipline launcher 

"This innovative, modern approach ensures we are achieving the best results for the world's poorest people and delivering value for money for British taxpayers," said Priti Patel, the International Development Secretary.

It is estimated that the drone project could support over 50,000 births a year, shortening the time mothers and new-borns would have to wait for life-saving medicine to 19 minutes as compared to the 110 minutes by traditional transport methods.[2] They can carry weight up to 1kg of supplies and fly below 500 ft to avoid getting into air space used by passengers.

As the approach their destination, the drones drop the altitude and release the supplies by paper parachutes, before returning to the start point.

DFID will carry the project in partnership with local firm The Ifakara Health Institute- which specializes in treatments for malaria, HIV, tuberculosis as well as neonatal health issues.   

Drones are UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and have long been used in combat, research and to gather intelligence since 1800s.[3] As the technology advances and costs fall, civilian day-today uses of UAVs are developing rapidly. We are all familiar with the increasing use of drones[4] in aerial photography.

Many people questioned the use of drones to deliver supplies when Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’s 2013 announcement that the company would use drones for package delivery.

In 2014, a drone was used to deliver medical supplies on a remote island in Germany and the same year Doctors Without Borders used drones to transport dummy tuberculosis (TB) test samples from a remote village to the city of Kerema, Papua New Guinea.[5]

In US, the first government approved drone delivery of medical supplies occurred on July 17, 2015 by Flirtey, carrying medicines to a rural popup clinic in Virginia.[6] Subsequently in July 2016, Zipline International, in partnership with the Rwandan government began drone delivery of blood and drugs across that country. The blood was delivered in 30 minutes after receiving the text.

Similarly, Angel Drone is due to commence a trial of its service in rural New South Wales later this year. Leading neurosurgeon Charles Teo,is the ambassador behind this ambitious project and sees various use of drone in Australian outback hard to reach areas.[7]

Although applications are potentially endless and the drones hold great promise for medical product transport, the field is still in its infancy. In the future, we will see delivery of automated defibrillators to acting as a vehicle for chemotherapy drugs.

 Currently in the real world, the first mass application of drones is for delivery of hemostatic products in disaster reliefs.

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[1] http://tanzania.mynews.club/

[2] http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38450664

[3] http://sma.org/the-drones-of-medicine/

[4] http://www.nesta.org.uk/drones-history-flying-robots

[5] http://www.msf.org/article/papua-new-guinea-how-reach-patients-%E2%80%98land-without-land-cruisers%E2%80%99.

[6] http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/17/faa-drone-medical-supplies-virginia/30296025/

[7] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-31/drones-to-deliver-medical-supplies/7979442