Drones Can Serve Mankind Too

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard. Presently most of the countries impose a restriction upon the flying of drones. As per the regulations, drones can only be flown within the operator’s line of sight and operators cannot oversee more than one aircraft. If analyzed critically, it can be understood that although security and safety are the topmost concern, but deriving the benefits of the drones is also important. In the wake of safety and security concerns, the benefits of drones cannot be over- looked. Drones are usually employed for performing dull, dirty, dangerous and data-rich jobs. A drone can fly through a field of volcanic ash or can be inspected by a power line. The drones are extremely useful and can be used to persistently scan an area.

Additionally, drones can help in saving human lives in times of adverse situations. The mountainous countryside of Rwanda consists of certain remote areas. These areas are difficult to reach. The hospitals and healthcare providers in the region struggle largely when it comes to supplying blood to mothers during childbirth and other patients in times of need. In order to tackle such emergencies, the hospitals make use of logistics and storage facilities which results in wastage of blood and other resources. So, as to tackler this issue, the government of Rwanda brought forth Zipline, a California-based drone start-up to help and expedite the delivery of blood in times of need. This grew and took the shape of a drone delivery programme on the national level, and influenced the world largely. Thousands of lives were saved with this initiative and blood wastage became nearly nil. This became a true example of the vital role than drones can play during emergencies. In order to scale up this initiative started by the Rwanda government, they entered into a partnership with the World Economic Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This happened in the year 2017. The new partnership aims to build up a broader ecosystem of unmanned aircraft systems. The strategies intend to increase the types of benefits these drones can provide along with mitigating risks. It also looks forward to creating a model that can be used by other regulators and policy makers all around the world.

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/what-the-world-can-learn-from-rwandas-approach-to-drones/