(ThyBlackMan.com) You may have heard about drones for many reasons. It’s hard to describe a drone perfectly, but the small, flying vehicles are used for a number of reasons. You may have heard about delivery drones, or the scarier stories of military drones. However, it seems some organizations have found a way to use drones for the noblest reason- to help those in need.
Lifesaving Drones
Recently, the Rwandan government partnered with Zipline. Zipline is a Silicon Valley-based startup focusing on robotics, such as drones. The goal is to use their drones to deliver medical help to those struck by illness in Rwanda. It was announced last week that the lifesaving drones have taken flight, helping the small East African nation.
Zipline received help from UPS to use GPS tracking to deliver 
medical supplies, starting with blood. Rwandans can order the supplies via text message, and so far delivery has been extremely reliable and accurate.
Rwanda is one of the world’s poorest nations. It is plagued by health problems such as HIV, malaria and tuberculosis which extra medical supplies can help prevent. CEO of Zipline, Keller Rinaudo, set out to make a difference. He was impressed by the Rwandan government’s eagerness to use innovative technology to help their nation.
More About Drones
Drones seem to be appearing more and more in all industries. Nosaj Thing’s music video for ‘Cold Stares’, featuring Chance The Rapper, was filmed with numerous drones. Drones have been used in many cases for video capture, and even live streaming events in some cases.
They are also becoming a hobby for many average people. Many drones are available to the public to use however they wish. For example, this Syma X5SW Review details a popular consumer drone. People often use drones for taking pictures or racing. They’re also used simply for having fun the same way you would with other remote-controlled vehicles.
A Growing Medical Trend
Rwanda isn’t the only nation being helped by medical drones. A fundraiser for Unicef, Judith Sherman, came up with the idea of using drones to help with HIV and Aids care to Malawi.
Government statistics state 10,000 children died of HIV-related illnesses in Malawi in 2014. Unicef hopes to reduce this number in coming years with their drones. Using drones can deliver blood tests faster and help affected Malawi residents with the medical aid they need.
The trend of using drones to help poorer countries with medical resources seems to be a growing trend. Zipline received over $18 million in financial backing from various parties. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and Yahoo founder Jerry Yang were amongst those to help with funds.
UPS put $800,000 towards helping the project. They invested not only in Zipline, but also Gavi. Gavi is a global health partnership who plan to use drones to help deliver vaccines to children in developing countries.
With more big companies and governments investing in medical drones, it will hopefully become a growing trend. As drones help more with delivering fast medical assistance to nations who need it, we may see rates of disease reduce worldwide.
Staff Writer; Carl Newsome
