NIGERIA-Bayelsa State in Nigeria has announced a collaboration with Zipline, the global leader in instant logistics, to leverage Zipline’s drone technology in delivering essential medical commodities to health facilities within the state.
The new service which is expected to launch operations within six months will establish daily universal access to lifesaving medicines through Zipline’s proprietary fleet of drones.
The drones both take off from and land at Zipline’s distribution hub without requiring additional infrastructure or manpower at the clinics they serve.
Outdated medical devices, insufficient medical supplies and lack of access to high-quality medical equipment are among the concerns greatly impairing health services in Nigeria.
According to World Health Organization, 30% of the world’s population are estimated not to have regular access to essential medicines.
Consequently, the health of a country’s general population is significantly affected by the access to healthcare as well as availability and affordability of medicines.
However, Zipline’s drone technology will address these shortcomings through a developed technology transfer collaboration to be implemented in Bayelsa.
The Bayelsa State Government represented by the Ministry of Health has separately formed a consortium with DrugStoc, Health Spaces, Sterling Bank and Zipline to ensure sustainability and continuous availability of medical products within the value chain for distribution.
The consortium led by Zipline will ensure the availability of safe, quality and affordable drugs to all residents of the state in all its health facilities.
Moreover, the partnership will complement state’s efforts to level up primary health care delivery services through incorporating Zipline’s technology for medical delivery and distribution of medical commodities.
Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri stated that the government was committed to building a dependable health delivery system in Bayelsa through removing the access barriers that prevent easy delivery of medical commodities.
“Even distribution of on-demand medical commodities to remote and hard-to-reach areas do not only safe lives but also become a significant way of managing waste that happens as a result of expiry of medicines,” added Senator Douye.
At the same time, Senior Vice President for Zipline Africa, Daniel Marfo assured that Zipline would begin immediate construction process which entails building a distribution hub from where medical commodities will be stored and delivered.
Zipline will establish a distribution hub in Bayelsa to enhance access to health care and emergency responsiveness, improve inventory management for medical supplies as well as make life-saving deliveries of medical supplies when needed.
In addition, Zipline will employ hundreds of local team members from Bayelsa so as to stay within the agreed timelines of the agreement.
The Bayelsa signing follows Kaduna and Cross River states that have already signed onto the Zipline technology in Nigeria.
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