A paediatrician sends a message on his smartphone: an order for a supply of vaccines, because his clinic’s stocks are running slow. In a matter of minutes, you can hear the unmistakable hum of a drone. It releases a package – with a small parachute that slows its fall – containing the requested supplies, right on the clinic’s doorstep.

The location is a small African village and the above scenario is the new intervention strategy to ensure that the community’s children can quickly and safely access essential medical services, such as immunisation against the most dangerous and contagious diseases.

This is all possible despite the poor, often impassable roads, the lack of transport and, above all, the many strenuous hours of travelling that would otherwise be necessary. Today, it is a reality in many villages in Ghana, where at this very moment one of the biggest hi-tech revolutions for delivery of vaccines (and other essentials) that the world has ever witnessed is currently underway.

The scale of the project

A total of 120 drones distributed between four launch and refueling centres will be operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week, guaranteeing the work of over 2000 health facilities, including hospitals and clinics, and enabling direct contact with around twelve million people in every part of the country. According to plans, this will be the eventual extent of the network.

Twelve types of vaccines will be distributed, ranging from tetanus to yellow fever, poliomyelitis, meningitis and measles. And there is more to come. Once the project is fully up and running, the distribution network will also be used to send blood bags and other blood products for transfusions, first aid kits, pharmaceuticals (especially those for emergencies) and even small medical devices. In short, hundreds of unmanned aircraft will fly ever deeper into the country, loaded with raw materials for life.

Behind the scenes

The project, which was inaugurated at the end of April with the launch of the first aircraft, is the result of collaboration between health agencies, start-ups and the local government. A particularly notable role was played by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, or GAVI, a non-profit organisation that offers funding to enable children around the world to access vaccines through immunisation campaigns.

Ghana, for its part, is committed to integrating the drone network into its national healthcare system, while Zipline, an emerging company in the automation sector based in Silicon Valley, is in charge of technology and logistics, with the support of UPS.

From a more general perspective, the project has somewhat deeper roots, which go back to 2016, when the green light was given for the first facility for drones dedicated to the transport of sanitary materials on a national scale in another location, Rwanda. In this case, however, the focus was on emergency drugs and blood bags for postpartum haemorrhages, rather than on immunisation products.

The power of drones

Although they may look fragile or perhaps inefficient, drones like the ones used in this case are in fact an almost unrivalled model of performance and resistance.

Each of them is powered by a battery with a range of up to 150 kilometres and can remain in flight, loaded, including in heavy rain or in windy conditions, at speeds that reduce the countless hours needed to make a journey by land to just 15-20 minutes. “I used to see drones flying and I thought it was a crazy idea… until a drone saved my life,” commented one of the many people who in recent months has come into contact with this new form of care and prevention.