CASE STUDY 3

Supporting Nimble Supply Chains with Drone Delivery

Malawi

Context

Malawi frequently faces natural disasters that disrupt its healthcare infrastructure. Cyclone Ana (January 2022) and Cyclone Freddy (February 2023) caused extensive flooding. This destroyed critical health facilities and transportation infrastructure. Access to healthcare for displaced populations was significantly hindered, raising concerns about potential disease outbreaks and deteriorating maternal and child health. In addition, the destruction of roads and bridges disrupted the supply chain, including the delivery of vaccines, medical products, lab samples, and antiretroviral drugs to primary healthcare facilities (PHCs). These logistical constraints made maintaining a steady supply of essential medical products a critical challenge.

Organization

VillageReach works across multiple countries and is focused on reducing inequities in access to quality care. They have worked in Malawi since 2008, collaborating with the Ministry of Health, the private sector, and other partners to design and sustain responsive primary healthcare systems. They do this by building tech-enabled pathways to primary health care and making health products available to people when and where they are needed.

Approach

VillageReach employs a Drone Delivery System to overcome transportation barriers caused by damaged roads and bridges. In partnership with Swoop Aero, a drone service provider, the Malawi Ministry of Health, and the Department of Civil Aviation, with funding from USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures (DIV), they worked to expand the drone network and integrate drones into the national health supply chain system. They collaborate closely with local health centers to enable quick and direct transport of vaccines, medications, and other essential supplies to areas that are otherwise inaccessible by traditional means. This includes samples collected for HIV Viral Load (VL) and HIV Early Infant Detection (EID), contraceptive injectables, and HPV vaccine doses. During the cyclones, drones played a vital role in maintaining a reliable supply chain and ensuring timely delivery of life-saving medicines to affected communities. 

  • The drones were used to deliver critical medical supplies to remote cyclone-affected areas in 2022 and 2023. Specific analysis of product delivery for those post-cyclone periods is not available currently. However, VillageReach’s overall impact numbers for the drone delivery system in Malawi from May 2021 and September 2023 are:

    • 7914 flights in 501 days with 3707 product deliveries both ways

    • 195,925 people directly benefited from the products flown by drones

    • 71 health facilities in 7 districts have been supplied with health products on demand, including 2,091kg of products, 98,086 vaccine doses, and 6,127 lab samples

    • Health facilities reported reductions in turnaround time between placing an order for medical supplies and their actual delivery

Results to Date

  • UNFPA is testing the use of this innovation for the delivery of sexual and reproductive health commodities to remote areas after a disaster in Botswana.

  • VillageReach is partnering with IDinsight and the Malawi Ministry of Health to conduct a two-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) including 209 rural, hard-to-reach health facilities across 23 districts, with 99 facilities randomly selected to receive access to bi-directional drones in addition to traditional transportation methods, while 110 facilities serve as the control group, continued to rely solely on traditional means of transport. The endline study is planned to conclude in 2024.

Current Status

Sources:

PDF Innovative Approaches to Addressing Climate Change Impacts on Sexual & Reproductive Health: Case Studies from Around the World

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