Insights Before Flights: How Community Perceptions Can Make or Break Medical Drone Deliveries

Abstract

Drones are increasingly used to transport health products, but life-saving interventions can be stalled if local community concerns and preferences are not assessed and addressed. In order to inform the introduction of drones in new contexts, this paper analyzed similarities and differences in community perceptions of medical delivery drones in Malawi, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Dominican Republic (DR). Community perceptions were assessed using focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews (KIIs) conducted with stakeholders at the national level, at health facilities and in communities. Data were collected on respondents’ familiarity with drones, perceptions of benefits and risks of drones, advice on drone operations and recommendations on sharing information with the community. The comparative analysis found similar perceptions around the potential benefits of using drones, as well as important differences in the perceived risks of flying drones and culturally appropriate communication mechanisms based on the local context. Because community perceptions are heavily influenced by culture and local experiences, a similar assessment should be conducted before introducing drone activities in new areas and two-way feedback channels should be established once drone operations are established in an area. The extent to which a community understands and supports the use of drones to transport health products will ultimately play a critical role in the success or failure of the drone’s ability to bring life-saving products to those who need them.

A Socio-Analytical Approach to the Integration of Drones into Health Care Systems

“…The large diversity of opinions in the public perception of drones is illustrated by the distance between a report by Truog et al [67] from Malawi, which described how community leaders were afraid that autonomous drones could be perceived as something unnatural and possessed, and our own research at Oslo University Hospital, where we have found that the use of drones in health care is seen positively across professional groups, ages, and locations [83].…”

“…The recognition that successful integrations of technology generally require collaboration between professions that need to work together may also apply to drones, as suggested by several researchers [19,51,62,67]. They all recommended that authorities, leaders, and community representatives should be involved in this perspective and pointed out the importance of engaging a broad range of users to promote the development of health-related drone applications.…”

The Moderating Role of Pro-Innovative Leadership and Gender as an Enabler for Future Drone Transports in Healthcare Systems

“…Negative experiences with a new technology may create acceptance problems whereby people become resistant to subsequent changes [ 44 , 57 , 58 ]. By contrast, positive experiences and anecdotes may enhance the cultural appeal and social acceptance at the local level [ 44 , 52 , 56 ].…”

“Killing Two Birds with One Stone”? A Case Study of Development Use of Drones

“…For instance, in terms of logistics, DRC has one of the least developed infrastructure footprints in Africa, and drones could fill a need by flying over rainforest and terrain that surface vehicle cannot drive through due to a lack of roads. However, the Government of DRC is sensitive to unmanned aircrafts as a result of continued armed conflicts in the region, making it more complicated to carry out testing activities in DRC [14]. Given that the activity was designed to demonstrate the usefulness of drones for medical delivery in low-resource settings, Y needed to find a country that was "drone friendly".…”