UPS has announced that it’s partnering with two companies to test the use of drones to deliver blood transfusions and vaccines to remote parts of Rwanda in Africa.
The company, through its UPS Foundation, has committed $800,000 toward the project with Zipline, a California robotics company; and Gavi, a Swiss-based group that works to bring vaccines to children in poor countries. UPS said that starting later this year, the Rwandan government intends to begin using Zipline drones to delivery blood to 21 transfusing facilities in the western half of the country.
The goal is to step up the battle against the deaths of women who hemorrhage after giving birth. The additional blood can allow for life-saving transfusions on a continent known for the world’s high rates of maternal death, according to the World Health Organization.
It’s also seen as an aggressive move in logistics by UPS when Amazon and other competitors also are developing new tools to cut costs for shipping and package delivery. Federal regulators are still drafting rules for commercial use of drones, but companies know that creating reliable, fast delivery systems is crucial to staying relevant.
In Rwanda, a national drone network would initially focus on the delivery of blood supplies, but eventually expand to vaccines and medicines used to treat HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The operation over the coming three years is expected to save lives and serve as a model for scaling up humanitarian relief around the globe, UPS reported in a release.
“The inability to deliver life-saving medicines to the people who need them the most causes millions of preventable deaths each year. The work of this partnership will help solve that problem once and for all,” said Zipline chief executive Keller Rinaudo, who added that “instant drone delivery will allow us to save thousands of lives in a way that was never before possible.”
UPS said that Zipline drones would make up to 150 deliveries per day. “It is a totally different way of delivering vaccines to remote communities and we are extremely interested to learn if UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) can provide a safe, effective way to make vaccines available for some of the hardest-to-reach children,” Dr. Seth Berkley, chief executive of Gavi, said in the announcement.
UPS took part in a multi-state study a year ago that evaluated drone platforms for operating characteristics, ranges and payloads. The goal was also to inform policy makers about technologies and other critical issues involving unmanned vehicles and other semi-autonomous vehicles.
The company also has worked with the American Red Cross and other organizations to smooth the supply chain for humanitarian aid. The UPS Foundation in early 2015 also launched “relief link,” a program in partnership with the United Nation’s refugee agency to use hand-held scanning tools to track supplies headed to crisis areas.
Source: Courier Journal