![]() Zipline’s drone system seemed more efficient. Staff would fill the order, and the driver would return with it. When rural hospital workers needed blood, they’d fill out paper forms, which a driver would take to a national transfusion facility. “Frankly, we couldn't have done this evaluation had they not had the data system in place,” says Law.īefore starting her analysis, Nisingizwe traveled to Rwanda to learn about the traditional logistics for delivering blood there. That’s a gold mine for researchers like Nisingizwe, who want to measure just how much innovation helps. “They have one of the most complete electronic data systems,” says Michael Law, Nisingizwe’s advisor and a health policy researcher at UBC, which lets Rwanda’s Ministry of Health track how many people see physicians, how many have malaria or HIV, and how many give birth at health facilities. By 2013, RapidSMS connected 15,000 villages to the country’s wider network of doctors, hospitals, and ambulances. In 2009, the government piloted a phone-based program, called RapidSMS, to track and reduce maternal and child mortality. Rwanda’s universal health care system reaches over 90 percent of the population. A turbulent drive is not a perfect match for such finicky cargo.ĭon’t be fooled by Rwanda’s rural demographics the country has a reputation for leaning into health tech innovations. If kept cool, donated blood can be stored for just a month or so, but some components that hospitals isolate for transfusions-like platelets-will spoil in days. So, traditionally, when remote hospitals needed blood, it came by road. But in Rwanda, that number flips: 83 percent of Rwandans live in rural areas. In African nations like Libya, Djibouti, and Gabon, about 80 to 90 percent of the populations live in cities, too. In the United States and the United Kingdom, 80 percent of the population clusters around urban hubs with high-traffic hospitals and blood banks. That’s not a huge problem if you live in a city. And when they do, the red stuff stored in Place A has to find its way to a patient in Place B-fast. Anemic children need urgent transfusions. More than 12 million people live in the small East African country, and like those in other nations, sometimes they get into car accidents. This technology may have benefit for austere care of military and civilian casualties.Six years ago, Rwanda had a blood delivery problem. Drones repeatedly and accurately delivered medical supplies faster than other methods without additional risk to personnel or manned airframe. Use of unmanned drones is feasible for delivery of life-saving medical supplies in austere environments. Resupply by foot would take 5.1 hours with an average speed of 2.4km/h and 61.35 minutes, with an average speed of 12 km/h for a wheeled vehicle, if a rudimentary road existed. The drone successfully returned to the starting point every flight. Medical supplies were delivered successfully within 1m of the target. Data are given as mean (± standard deviation). Delivery time was compared to the known US military standards for traversing uneven topography by foot or wheeled vehicle.įour flights were performed. The flight was preprogrammed on the basis of grid coordinates and flew on autopilot beyond visual range data (altitude, flight time, route) were recorded live by high-altitude Shadow drone. A simulated casualty was positioned in a remote area. Using an unmanned, rotary- wing drone, we simulated delivery of a customizable, 4.5kg load of medical equipment, including tourniquets, dressings, analgesics, and blood products. ![]() We hypothesized that unmanned aerial drones could successfully deliver life-sustaining medical supplies to a remote, denied environment where vehicle or foot traffic is impossible or impractical. ![]() Man-packable medical supplies may be consumed by a single casualty, and resupply may not be possible before evacuation, particularly during prolonged field care scenarios. Care of trauma casualties in an austere environment presents many challenges, particularly when evacuation is not immediately available. ![]()
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