The company plans to partner with the African nation of Rwanda, a country where pregnant women die from postpartum hemorrhage much more often than in the U.S., to supply blood for transfusions in short order, according to Forbes.
The company’s website boasts an unprecedented range for its drones, allowing it to deliver blood products for twenty Rwandan health centers from a single home base in the country, beginning this summer. Efficient drone delivery of blood could enable the product to get to patients who need it faster, without spoiling.
“It can be a little bit hard to fully appreciate how hard it is to run an efficient supply chain and healthcare system where the roads wash out 90 percent of time in rainy season,” Zipline CEO Keller Rinaudo told Forbes.
The company reports it is in the process of signing deals with additional countries.
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