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

Abstract

With the rise of the "humanitarian drone" in recent years, drones have become one of the most controversial public interest technologies that have gained increasing media attention. It is worth noting that, although there is a perception in the aid sector that drones hold the promise to reinvent the health supply logistics, to date, routine drone delivery is still relatively new and largely unproven. This paper presents a recent field study conducted in 2019, where drones were deployed in Malawi to help address the last mile challenge in medical supply delivery, and where a noticeable mentality of "killing two birds with one stone" around the attempt of using drones in resource-poor settings is observed. The objective of the paper is to shed light, through a real-world case study and from the ethical perspective, on the impacts of implementing such a systemic change in the existing health supply chain systems. As conclusion, a call for more reflexive approaches for the critical examination, as well as more structured guidance for the responsible evaluation, of medical cargo drones is raised.

Ethical Considerations Associated with “Humanitarian Drones”: A Scoping Literature Review

“…The growing trend of increased publications on humanitarian drone use and ethics reflects the increased emphasis on humanitarian innovation (Sandvik et al, 2017;Scott-Smith, 2016) and its ethical implications (Betts & Bloom, 2014;Sheather et al, 2016), as well as the broader context of rising use of drone technology across diverse sectors (Eichleay et al, 2016;OCHA, 2014;Soesilo et al, 2016;Wang, 2019Wang, , 2020Wang, , 2021aWang, , 2021b. The bibliometric analysis of the collected articles indicated a strong growth in articles published across the review's timespan, with the greatest number of articles released in 2019, the last complete year included.…”

“…For instance, images collected by drones can fill a gap between expensive, weather-dependent, and low-resolution images provided by satellites, or car-based images limited to human-level perspectives and the accessibility of roads (Floreano & Wood, 2015). Thanks to their high versality and easy maneuverability, small drones have been rapidly deployed and steadily scaled up on a wide spectrum of civilian applications over the last decade (Wang, 2021a(Wang, , 2021b.…”

Exploring factors affecting the adoption and continuance usage of drone in healthcare: The role of the environment

“…Studies have shown that financing, governance, health information systems, leadership, collaborations for novel diagnostics, medicines, vaccinations and health service delivery using drone technologies are all instances of effective reverse innovation [ 12 , 27 , 28 ]. Studies have shown that, reverse innovations is characterised by commodity performance that must be adapted to an acceptable level at a fraction of the cost of the adopted technology [ 29 ]; sustainability, which favours the deployment of technologies such as drone use in the delivery of healthcare [ 7 ]; removal or flexibility in legal and regulatory barriers that impede the implementation of new technologies and prevent rapid market access [ 17 ]; and meeting local geographical and environmental needs like the delivery of medicine to inaccessible populations during rainy seasons using drones [ 30 ].…”

“…Such countries have to emulate strategies in the implementation of drone technologies in developing countries within the healthcare supply chain, making the theory of reverse innovation possible [ 16 ]. Experiences and lessons from reverse innovation in global health show that collaborations between developing countries and developed countries can result in system-wide advantages [ 30 ].…”

Telemedicine System Applicability Using Drones in Pandemic Emergency Medical Situations

“…Vital parameters can be assessed in real time using two-way communication, facilitated by drone technology. Currently, even humanitarian aid organizations are using drones to cost-effectively deliver vaccines, pharmaceuticals, and medical supplies to remote locations or difficult-to-reach areas [4][5][6][7][8].…”