Clinics in Rwanda used to struggle to stock the correct amount of blood products for medical procedures and emergency care. Because the need for blood often arises with little warning via accidents or emergencies and because blood is not a one-size-fits-all product, trying to forecast how much of what kind to keep on hand was problematic. Refrigerated blood only lasts about 42days, so controlling inventory so it doesn't expire and go to waste is critical. Even transporting the blood posed great challenges for rural clinics in a mountainous country with inferior roads and infrastructure. If the right type of blood was not on hand, and with many clinics up to a three-hour drive from the country's blood banks, doctors sometimes had to fly patients to national hospitals rather than wait for blood deliveries to arrive.Zipline partnered with UPS to change that. In October of 2016, Zipline's Rwanda project became the world's first national drone delivery system. Today, Zipline utilizes the fastest commercial delivery drone in the world. Doctors text or call in orders for blood products as needed, and rural clinics are now only a 15- to 45-minute drone flight from the distribution centers. Approximately a third of the blood deliveries are for emergency life-saving situations. This on-demand system has reduced waste and spoilage by 95 percent.Zipline drones are fixed-wing style airplanes rather than the more typical quadcopter. The plane-like design of the drone gives it a much greater range than a quadcopter, and it is also more resilient in bad weather. However, unlike a quadcoptor, it cannot take off, READING ZIPLINE DRONES SAVE LIVES IN RWANDAland, and take off again. Rather, once the drone is launched, it flies to its destination and the box containing the blood delivery para-chutes down to the clinic. The drone then circles back to its home base. The drone can travel 93 miles on a single charge. Already in its second generation of drones, Zipline's newest system cut the time between receipt of an order and launch of the drone from ten minutes to one. Also, the daily number of possible flights increased from 50 to 500.The Rwandan government, as part of its strategy of adopting new cutting-edge technologies, welcomed the program. Less cumbersome aviation regulations and a much quieter air space compared to developed countries like the United States enabled this small African nation to leap to the forefront of drone technol-ogy. Zipline is also working in Tanzania to develop similar delivery systems for a variety of medical supplies, and the company plans to expand its services in the United States as well.

1.What other sorts of companies or products could benefit from this on-demand delivery technology?

2. What issues or concerns make implementing this technology more difficult in developed countries like the United States than in developing countries in East Africa?