Impact Evaluation: Drone Delivery Improves Health Access and Equity

Download the Executive Summary

The Study

Read about our impact evaluation

The results of the impact evaluation undertaken by IDinsight and Zipline, and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, are now available.

Key Findings

These external study findings validate Zipline’s statistically significant impact on health access, commodity availability, and supply chain performance.

Ensuring routine vaccinations: A patient at a Zipline-served facility is 42% less likely to miss a vaccination opportunity due to stockout than a patient at non-Zipline facilities.

Reducing commodity stockouts: Vaccine stockouts are 60% shorter at Zipline-served facilities than non-Zipline facilities.

Increasing access and equity across the health system: Zipline-served facilities stock 10% more medical products than non-Zipline facilities

Access the Full Report

The full impact evaluation report shares deeper insights and key takeaways about Zipline's intervention

Lessons we've learned

Increased health access and equity

There are higher commodity stocking rates and shorter stockouts at Zipline-served facilities compared to control facilities

Greater need, greater impact

The greatest impact is seen in the North, among facilities without cold storage, and those farther from the regional medical store

Opportunity for greater uptake

It is a priority path to serve unrealized demand as Zipline continues to grow and integrate across all levels of the health system

What this means for Zipline

1 — Continue forging the path for instant logistics

Significant gains in health access and equity can be realized with a national-scale instant logistics system powered by autonomous drones. Zipline will continue refining and improving the system to deliver on the needs of governments, organizations, and most importantly, humans.

2 — Pair organic demand with ongoing monitoring and evaluation

Rapid organic uptake and growth should be paired with targeted outreach and support as well as monitoring and evaluation to ensure that growth and increased impact go hand-in-hand for long-term impact.

3 — Keep making our innovative technologies easy to implement

The study highlights the complexities of rolling out a solution where the context, patient, and facility needs vary widely. We must continue building a modular and responsive system that can be flexible to the needs of health workers and patients within a fluid and dynamic system.

How it works

End-to-end supply chain system

Every day, Zipline distribution centers around the world are changing the way that healthcare supply chains operate, and how care is delivered. Simple. Fast. Effective.

See our global healthcare work

Our values drive everything we do

Impact Evaluation: Drone Delivery Improves Health Access and Equity

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