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Medicine from the Sky Opportunities and Lessons from Drones in Africa

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Medicine from the Sky Opportunities and Lessons from Drones in Africa In collaboration with Deloitte Medicine from the Sky Opportunities and Lessons from Drones in Africa INSIGHT REPORT MARCH 2021 Cover: Getty Images/Sarawuth702 Contents 3 Foreword 21 4 Looking ahead – a case for drones in the fight against COVID-19 4 Executive summary 22 Challenges: widespread distribution of a 5 1 Drones for medical delivery in Africa vaccine 6 Introduction 22 A look at today: using drones to deliver 6 History of drone programmes in Africa vaccines and other medication 6 Emergency medical sample and 23 Drones and the COVID vaccine supplies delivery 24 Beyond the COVID vaccine 8 2 Case study: quantitative model of the 25 5 Conclusion medical, on-demand delivery use case 27 Appendix A: A 10-prong consideration 10 Paths to sustainable programmes framework 10 Showing value using a cost-benefit 28 Technical feasability and maintenance analysis model 28 Supply-chain resilience 12 Three sensitivities: vendor selection, existing transportation costs and 29 Ownership and financing operating at scale 29 Community sensitization and 15 Discussion engagement 15 Health benefits example – post-partum 30 Workforce haemorrhage 30 Government affairs and regulation 15 Broader economic benefits 31 Legal and privacy 16 Other benefits 31 Third-party partners 16 The path forward 31 Insurance 17 3 Investigation – enabling conditions for rapid adoption 32 Safety 18 Establishing a need 33 Appendix B: Additional use cases 18 Path to sustained economic viability 33 Aerial dispersion 19 Supporting policy and regulation 33 Aerial surveillance 19 Accessibility of the region 34 Remote sensing 19 Supply chain 34 Heavy-lift cargo delivery 20 Community buy-in, education and 35 Contributors outreach 37 Endnotes 20 Factors for success © 2021 World Economic Forum. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system. Medicine from the Sky: Opportunities and Lessons from Drones in Africa 2 Foreword The COVID-19 pandemic has made visible to the and beyond. The needs of the current time are global community many health inequities that too urgent for us not to aggressively pursue how have long been present. As we move through this we can shape emerging technologies to meet the crisis, it has become clear that the previous ways needs of all people – no matter where they live. of doing things are no longer adequate. This has created opportunities for innovation, such as Unmanned Aircraft Systems have the potential the historic success of creating new vaccines in to play a transformative role globally. This is record time. Now attention is turning to how we particularly true in healthcare, where drones may can ensure equitable access to these types of be able to overcome challenges in infrastructure Timothy Reuter essential health materials. Head of Aerospace and and logistics. The potential lives saved or improved Drones, World Economic by timely access to medicines, equipment and Forum Drones provide a potential avenue for ensuring medical facilities should be a rallying point for that everyone, no matter where they live, has industry and government. And although this young access to high-quality healthcare. Africa has technology has not played a significant role during been a global leader in the field of drones with the current COVID-19 pandemic, the challenges of the first national-scale drone delivery programme medical logistics have been highlighted during this launching in Rwanda and the world’s first drone past year and drones could be a critical tool for delivery of COVID vaccines taking place in future health crises. Ghana. African countries are showing the rest of the world the social and economic value that can The possible benefits are even more dramatic in be provided by this technology. Africa and India, where industry and government have recognized the enormous potential to do Peter Liu Despite these successes, there remain many good with drones and have invested in a number Managing Director, US unanswered questions about how to design of early-stage technologies and programmes. In Drone Services, Deloitte a successful drone programme, where the Ghana this past year, drones delivered COVID technology can be best applied and how vaccines for the first time. In India, the World to measure the results. This report offers a Economic Forum’s Medicine from the Sky framework for evaluating these issues, which initiative is working with the state of Telangana for are essential for taking full advantage of this drone-based medical deliveries. While these are technological revolution. Although the focus is on very encouraging trends, it is critical to recognize the African context, the lessons are applicable that the next leap forwards for the development around the world. of drones for healthcare will require government and industry working together across a range Some of the biggest challenges identified relate of issues and to develop business models that to the need to evaluate the opportunity drones provide a more realistic economic foundation for provide at scale. Small pilot projects were a good drone operators. way to learn initially, but we must now move through the “valley of death” between pilots With this in mind, Deloitte worked with the World and large deployments where the economics of Economic Forum to develop this paper as a guide drone delivery can make sense. The question to the key considerations and the realistic financial is no longer whether the technology is ready, analyses that should inform how to develop a but how to find sustainable business models thriving drone ecosystem in Africa and globally. for drone-enabled healthcare provision. This is We believe that the world is at the beginning of a intimately connected to creating the right policy revolution in healthcare logistics and we hope this environment and ecosystem for drones in Africa paper serves to advance that cause. Medicine from the Sky: Opportunities and Lessons from Drones in Africa 3 March 2021 Medicine from the Sky: Opportunities and Lessons from Drones in Africa Executive summary This report explores drone delivery programmes in costs and benefits of using drones for on-demand Africa, specifically those with medical use cases. medical supply delivery, as well as an accompanying Through information provided from stakeholder sensitivity analysis to identify the factors with interviews, extensive research and a Deloitte- the greatest impact on the success of a drone developed cost-benefit analysis model, this paper programme. Section 3 conducts an investigation examines the factors and considerations that have into the enabling conditions for rapid drone adoption the greatest impact on the success of a drone in Africa, while Section 4 explores the application programme. Ever more relevant now due to the of drone delivery networks to the distribution of COVID-19 pandemic, this report also looks at the vaccines and examines how this could be applied potential use of drones to help distribute vaccines in Africa and other parts of the world. Section 5 and other future medical applications. Additionally, concludes the report with an examination of how the report discusses how drones have been used drone programmes could have far-reaching future historically in Africa for a variety of different use benefits for the communities they serve. cases, and how those can be broadened with future applications to bring additional benefits. Appendix A includes a consideration framework for building or sustaining a drone programme, with This report begins in Section 1 with a brief history of regards to technology feasibility and maintenance, medical drone delivery programmes in Africa. Section supply-chain resilience, ownership and financing, 2 is devoted to a case study utilizing Deloitte’s community sensitization and maintenance, quantitative model of the medical, on-demand workforce, government affairs and regulation, legal delivery use case. This cost-benefit analysis model and privacy, third-party partners, insurance, and is based on a Monte Carlo simulation, which can safety protocols and processes. Finally, Appendix be described as a simulation to understand the B highlights other use cases for drones in Africa, impact that random changes in day-to-day demand including humanitarian missions, commercial for medical goods has on drone flight activity. This applications and heavy-lift middle-mile delivery. simulation is designed to better understand the Medicine from the Sky: Opportunities and Lessons from Drones in Africa 4 1 Drones for medical delivery in Africa Source: Wingcopter Medicine from the Sky: Opportunities and Lessons from Drones in Africa 5 1.1 Introduction As we enter a new era of advanced mobility that maximize the benefits drones can provide. This includes innovations once thought impossible, such means taking a comprehensive approach that as self-driving cars and advanced aerial mobility, enables individuals in African countries to take full one technology has been at the forefront: drones. advantage of their potential. Drones are a powerful In African countries, drones are saving lives through medical tool, and lessons learned in Africa can programmes developed by the public and private pave the way for other large-scale programmes sectors. These programmes have positioned globally. Drones can prove beneficial on many fronts, countries throughout Africa as leading examples including being used to address
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