Health

Drones have a wide range of applications in the field of health, contributing to various aspects of healthcare and public health. Here are some ways drones are being utilized for health-related purposes:

Cargo Drones - Medical Delivery: Drones are used to transport medical supplies, such as vaccines, blood, drugs and other items such as medical test samles to remote or hard-to-reach areas in rural or isolated regions where access is difficult. 

Mapping & Monitoring: Drones allow to survey and monitor disease outbreaks, helping authorities to identify and control the spread of infectious diseases. Drones equipped with various sensors also allow to monitor environmental factors that impact public health, such as air and water quality.

Public Health Campaigns: Drones equipped with loudspeakers are used for aerial advertising to disseminate public health messages, encouraging people to adopt healthier practices or promoting vaccination campaigns.

Vector Control & Larval Habitat Identification: Drones can be used to locate and identify potential breeding sites for mosquito larvae in bodies of water, stagnant pools, or other areas that may not be easily accessible by ground teams. Drones also allow to acquire data to map and monitor areas such as mosquito breeding grounds, for disease control and to inform targeted intervention strategies. Drones are also used to release steriled mosquitos into local populations with high precision, to reduce mosquito-borne diseases. 

While drones offer innovative solutions, their deployment for health-related purposes raises ethical, legal, and regulatory considerations. Privacy, safety, and airspace regulations are some of the challenges that we actively address to support the widespread and responsible use of drones in the health sector.

Discover a selection of locally-led applications:

• Cargo Drones Bring Essential Health Services to Remote Communities in the Dominican Republic: video
• Collecting TB samples from remote clinics in Nepal: video
• Tanzania Flying Labs Deploys Anti-Malaria Drones to Combat Spread of Disease: video
• Identification of mosquito breeding grounds in Panama: use case
• World’s First-Ever Drone-led Dengue Prevention Campaign: video
• Locally-Led Medical Drone Deliveries in Madagascar: video
• Locally-led Medical Drone Deliveries in the Philippines: video
• Madagascar Flying Labs Fights Malaria in a New Way: blog post
• Fleet of Cargo Drones Tested in the Peruvian Amazon: report
• Building Cargo Drone Expertise in Papua New Guinea: blog post
• Catalyzing WHO’s Use of Medical Drone Delivery: blog post