Zipline: Medical Drone Deliveries Are Being Trialed In Kaduna State
In an effort to expand its network of instant logistics in Africa, Zipline has added new centers that are overseeing drone deliveries of medical supplies in Nigeria, which has the continent’s biggest population and economy.
Zipline, a drone-delivery service based in San Francisco, has begun testing its drones in Kaduna State, Nigeria, where it plans to transport vaccines, blood products, and other medical supplies to about 500 facilities. The launch is part of an ongoing initiative by government agencies across Nigeria – and indeed, throughout Africa – to enhance access to healthcare by bringing materials for treatment to isolated or underserved areas using fast and affordable UAV transport systems.
According to Daniel Marfo, Zipline’s senior vice president of Africa, “Instant logistics enables governments and health systems to optimize their supply chains and reimagine how care is delivered. Today’s flights mark one more step toward unlocking these benefits for millions more people, and bringing us one step closer to effective, agile systems that better serve all people.”
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Zipline will begin delivering medical supplies to around 2 million people in Kaduna State once the series of trials has been approved by Nigeria’s aviation authority. As part of the plan, the company will add three logistic and flight centers, although it says it remains open to expanding in the event officials want to expand the program, which is scheduled to begin later this month.
Adding activity in Nigeria to Zipline’s African drone transportation activities is nothing new. Zipline began delivering blood products to Rwanda in 2017 with drones. From then on, the company has undertaken healthcare logistics and transport projects for governments in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria’s Bayelsa and Cross River states.
As a result of these operations, Zipline has built what it calls the world’s largest automated drone delivery service, which has flown over 315,000 flights and transported 5 million units of vaccines and medical products. Zipline drones can fly a maximum distance of 160 km, day or night, and can deliver packages in 30 minutes on average.
“Zipline has a proven track record of health system transformation,” said Kaduna State Governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai. “Today, we’re making our first flights to pave the way toward bringing this proven service to Kaduna State…. Zipline’s system is a powerful next step in Kaduna State’s ongoing efforts to create a smarter, stronger health system that better serves everyone in our state.”
In addition to its ever-extending African networks, Zipline also provides drone deliveries of medical supplies in several parts of the US, as well as transporting customer orders of Walmart retail goods. In April it also announced an agreement to fly healthcare products to residents of Japan’s Gotō Islands.
