Overview

At Drones for Development we truly believe that small drones can significantly improve life in developing countries, especially when it concerns access to healthcare. We are developing the Dr.One concept, that aims to improve the supply chain for small medical goods, to thereby improve health care as a whole, and save lives of people in remote and hard to reach areas. The Dr.One drone we develop is a small unmanned aircraft system that is able to transport medicines, vaccines, blood packs from hospitals to health post locations. It can also transport blood samples from health posts to the lab at the hospital. The system is on stand-by and can be activated when required. The drones are capable of taking off and landing vertically, not requiring a runway infrastructure. They can also fly like a fixed wing and thereby cover large distances. The drones are able to cover distances relatively quickly, in a relatively straight line, not hampered by bad road infrastructure. Technology alone is never the solution, therefore Dr.One is offered as a transportation service integrated in the health system. Implementation of Dr.One services comes with situation analyses, engagement of local stakeholders, training of the health workers, training of local entrepreneurs (mechanics) for maintenance.