Kenya to airlift medical supplies to remote areas by September

Kenya is set to begin the delivery of medical supplies using airships in Kisumu and Homa Bay counties by September.  This is a valiant effort to deliver last-mile healthcare to people living in areas inaccessible by road. With these airships, healthcare workers will be able to avoid the long hours required to visit certain villages in the above counties. 

Kenya Flying Labs – a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering citizens with cutting-edge technologies – will run the airships. According to Cleopa Otieno the CEO of Kenya Flying Labs, Kisumu and Homa Bay were selected based on their poor levels of mother and child healthcare. Another reason why the Kenyan counties will host the pilot project is that they were highly open-minded to the idea. 

Compared to alternatives like boats, the airship is safer. Corroborating this assertion, one of the airship’s developers said that some waterlogged regions in the two counties had to depend on healthcare delivery by boat. This method was dangerous as it placed both the passengers and the cargo (drugs and other supplies) at risk. 

Although airships are slower than boats, Otieno believes they’re still better. “It does not have speed but has the advantage of payload and being above ground. This cuts the distance to be covered by half,” he explained.

The airship can typically travel for up to 50 kilometres if loaded with five kilograms of medical supplies. Additionally, the solar panels onboard can charge the battery to extend the range if necessary.

It’s worth noting that the airship project is designed for the routine delivery of medical supplies. The idea is to ensure the local hospitals in the counties always have basic medicines in stock, lowering the chances of stores running out. “We are not doing emergency supplies. We could be distributing gloves, Panadol, or malaria drugs,” he clarifies. 

Upon launch in September, the airships will feature state-of-the-art navigation systems and a sizable payload capacity. Interestingly,  the navigation system is programmed to ensure that the airship “returns home” should there be a loss of communication during a supply run. 

The ships also come with the ability to land during emergencies. Thanks to the lightweight design, Henry Kotze the lead software engineer of Cloudline – the airship’s developer – said there’s little to no chance of damage during emergency landings. He added that the airship could be controlled by rope like a kite would. 

The landing process is quite simple. A rope is attached to the ship, enabling passengers to unload the cargo. Once this is done, the rope is unhooked so the ship can proceed with deliveries to other locations. “The good thing about an airship is that it needs little infrastructure where it does deliveries,” Kotze said. 

From central distribution points, the airships will fly to drop-off points within the two counties. Upon landing, healthcare workers on-site can then transport the supplies to local clinics in the Kenyan regions.

Read also: Tech-enabled healthcare platform, CloudClinic, unveiled in Lagos

Kenya pioneering new wave of healthcare in Africa 

Technology is spearheading Africa’s efforts to achieve all-round development. In the financial services sector, FinTech apps are bridging the gap between people in underserved communities and essential bank services. The same goes for healthcare. 

The planned launch of an airship project for medical care in Kenya is the latest in African nations leveraging drone technology to fast-track healthcare delivery. Admittedly, many regions within many African nations are inaccessible thanks to poor road networks. 

Rwanda, a fellow East African nation, partnered with Zipline some years ago to deliver blood to 21 hospitals using autonomous drone technology. The project was a huge success and it was no surprise that Zipline became the national drone service provider for Rwanda last year. 

Zipline then expanded to Ghana and Nigeria. The company began operations in Nigeria’s Kaduna state last year, delivering medical commodities to local facilities in the area.