More West African Nations Deepen Healthcare Delivery With Drones
- More Nigerian neighbours in West African are adopting the use of drones to deepen healthcare in their domain
- Ivory Coast is the latest country to tow the same line, all in a bid to ensure medical products reach rural dwellers
- Many local service providers, along the value chain, will be directly engaged which is also expected to boost the local economy of the country
PAY ATTENTION: Click “See First” under the “Following” tab to see Legit.ng News on your Facebook News Feed!
Abidjan - In line with efforts to achieve Universal Health Coverage goals, leading West African nations are adopting the use of medical drones.
Lately, the government of Ivory Coast announced a partnership with Zipline - a US-based global leader in instant logistics - to deliver emergency medical supplies across the West African nation via its drone delivery service.
Source: Getty Images
As part of this latest partnership, with the government of Ivory Coast, Zipline will build and operate four distribution centers from where blood products, vaccines, and medical products will be stored and distributed to more than 1,000 health facilities across the country.
The first distribution center is expected to be completed and operationalized before the end of 2022.
PAY ATTENTION: Join Legit.ng Telegram channel! Never miss important updates!
The agreement aims to support the ministry's vision to achieve Universal Health Coverage by ensuring equitable access to blood products, vaccines, and medical products, especially in rural areas.
The Minister of Health, Public Hygiene, and Universal Health Coverage, Mr. Pierre N'gou DIMBA said:
“Achieving a Universal Health Coverage is top of our priority at the Ministry and we believe that this bold decision to partner Zipline is one sure way of achieving it.
“We have evaluated the capacity of Zipline, their operations in other African countries with similar needs to ours, and we truly believe that this partnership will help us to remove access barriers to health care and create a more equitable and efficient health system across the country.”
The Director, Africa Go-To-Market for Zipline, Mr. Israel Bimpe, expressed the hope that the Zipline technology is going to significantly improve the healthcare delivery system of the country.
His words:
“Our revolutionary instant logistics technology, which is being deployed around the world, will largely improve access and even distribution of medical commodities to remote and hard-to-reach areas.
“It is for this reason that we are excited with this partnership, which overall, will improve the lives of our own people, leaving no one behind in terms of access to medical commodities.
“Zipline will support all health facilities with emergency response capabilities, as well as routine and stockout-response deliveries of medicines, vaccines, and blood.
“Zipline will also serve as the sole supplier for some health facilities in remote regions in the country, creating a more efficient delivery service.”
The partnership is estimated to culminate in the creation of many jobs for the indigenes as Zipline is expected to source local talents to man the distribution centers.
Many local service providers, along the value chain, will be directly engaged by Zipline which is also expected to boost the local economy of the country.
Zipline wins US Secretary of State’s Award
Zipline recently received the US Secretary of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE) in health security.
The prestigious award, presented by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, honours Zipline’s work in improving health security, access, and equity.
Since 2019, Zipline has worked with the Government of Ghana, the Ministry of Health as well as its agencies, and the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, to help transform the nation's health system and provide more effective, more equitable care to people across the country.
Enter Cross River and Kaduna states
Fortunately, the Cross River and Kaduna state governments have already signed agreements with Zipline.
In February 2021, the Kaduna state government and Zipline announced a partnership that will witness the use of a logistics network of autonomous delivery drones to help transform access and availability of routine and emergency medicine for millions of people in the state.
Similarly, in May 2021, Cross River state came on board, and an excited Governor Benedict Ayade said:
“The focus of this partnership is to ensure that all barriers hindering the successful delivery of medical commodities to our people are removed.”
Source: Legit.ng
