Mozambique
In Mozambique, Kite Aero is working closely with Washington-based NGO VillageReach and Instituto Nacional de Saúde (INS), with funding from UKAID (now FCDO), to demonstrate the feasibility of drone technology in reducing critical turnaround times for highly infectious diseases, including COVID-19 and TB sputum samples, while increasing the efficiency, management, and coordination of sample collection and transportation.
The network success
Two Kite Aero
drones conducted 23 flights over five days.
300 lab samples - both positive and negative
of COVID-19 and TB transported.
100,000 people
directly benefited from daily drone pick-ups.
Reduction of human interaction in a public health emergency
The successful demonstration of the Kite Aero integrated drone logistics platform within the Mozambican health supply chain has underpinned the importance of the Kite Aero technology-based solution to minimise human-to-human transmission in the supply chain process, specifically the transportation of highly infectious samples and results.
In the context of a global public health emergency, minimising human transmission was critical to reducing the spread of vaccine-preventable viruses, easing pressure on hospital systems, healthcare professionals, and supply chains, and protecting the health and wellbeing of the population in times of health crisis.
In 2021, VillageReach published the findings of Phase One operations. The study validated the assumption that drone transportation does not compromise the quality of lab samples when compared with transportation by land. The study also showed acceptance of drone transportation among national, provincial, and local stakeholders.
In Phase 2, which was relaunched in May 2022, Kite Aero and VillageReach will scale up the network in Maputo province and expand into two additional provinces, Sofala and Inhambane. Phase 2 operations support the emergency transportation of COVID-19 tests, samples, results, and vaccines, as well as other highly infectious pathology samples in collaboration with the Mozambique National Institute of Health (INS) and Inhambane Province Health Department. They are focused on serving 5 hard-to-reach district hospitals in the initial phased scaling up of operations and will progressively scale up the network to service 7 facilities across the Sofala and Inhambane provinces.
Plans for network expansion
In Mozambique, Kite Aero and VillageReach, with funding from Focusing Philanthropy, will enable the daily pick-up of COVID-19 and other lab samples from rural hospitals in five hard-to-reach districts in Inhambane Province. The drones will supply life-saving products, including the COVID-19 vaccine. All organisations anticipate scaling up operations in a further two provinces as part of Phase 2 operations.
Focusing Philanthropy and its community of donors for this campaign provided the funding for Phase 2 of the program. INS, VillageReach, and health partners in Inhambane are seeking funding for the continuation and expansion in Inhambane and other areas.
As drone integration into Mozambique’s healthcare system progresses, greater access to care becomes possible through better prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of infectious diseases and other ailments.
