A key requirement for vaccine deliveries, including by drone, is maintaining the temperature |
A one-month-old on a remote island in the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu became the first child to be immunised in a commercial trial of drone-delivered vaccines, the UN children's fund UNICEF said Tuesday.
Aid
agencies hope the successful run in the country, where one in five children is
not fully immunised, could eventually help governments and organisations reach
others in far-flung places around the world.
"Today's
small flight by drone is a big leap for global health," UNICEF executive
director Henrietta Fore said in a statement.
"With
the world still struggling to immunise the hardest to reach children, drone
technologies can be a game changer for bridging that last mile to reach every
child."
While this
is not the first time that drones have been used to deliver vaccines, it is the
first time such a method has been deployed in Vanuatu, which has 83 islands,
most only accessible by boat.
It is also
the first time a commercial contract is being used for routine immunisations,
UNICEF said.
A key
requirement for the deliveries is maintaining the temperatures at which the
vaccines are carried.
In warmer
places such as Vanuatu, transportation across limited roads has its challenges.
In the
trial, the drone travelled across almost 40 kilometres (25 miles) of rough and
mountainous terrain from the west of the southern island of Erromango to its
east, arriving at the remote Cook's Bay.
The
vaccines were kept in styrofoam boxes that carried ice-packs and a temperature
sensor that would be triggered if it exceeded the required range. A total of 13
children and five pregnant women were vaccinated by a registered nurse, UNICEF
added.
"As
the journey is often long and difficult, I can only go there once a month to
vaccinate children. But now, with these drones, we can hope to reach many more
children in the remotest areas of the island," the nurse, Miriam Nampil,
told UNICEF.
The agency
said Vanuatu's government was considering incorporating drone deliveries of
vaccines into their national immunisation programme, and with the supply of
other health aids.
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