Technology Circulates Blood Through Rural Rwanda

Imagine if every single person in Los Altos and Mountain View died in one year. It would be all over the news and people would be stricken with terror all over the world. Severe bleeding after childbirth, also called postpartum hemorrhaging, kills the same amount of women every single year. Additionally, it also is completely curable by blood transfusions (Baker). The thing is, most hospitals in rural Rwanda do not have the money to buy or maintain a refrigerator for all types of blood, and for that reason tend not to store any (McVeigh). This is a huge issue because the average distance to these hospitals from the blood distribution center in Kigali is over three hours on average, leaving patients dead before help can reach them (Baker).

Rwanda, after much hard work, is one of the leading countries for blood transfusions. After the 1994 genocide, the country was basically destroyed and left to start anew (Moses). As a result, the fabric of Rwandan society was created with a more modern perspective. Still, the country lacked proper infrastructure and equipment. This prevented blood from being stored correctly or getting to rural hospitals in time. Fortunately, the implementation of technologies such as text messaging and drones have made blood transfusions and other medicines more accessible to the rural Rwandan people.

Text messaging is an invention we take for granted almost every day in the Silicon Valley. In Rwanda, however, this technology has made it easier and safer to store medical supplies. A cold chain monitoring system is a device that tracks the temperatures of blood samples and makes sure the cells stay alive and healthy for transfusion (Kayumba). The blood transfusion center in Kigali, Rwanda has integrated their cold chain monitoring system with text messaging. When a sample goes out of healthy temperature range, users are sent a text message and email (SwaibuKatare). As a result, the Rwandan center for blood transfusions in Kigali has been able to keep their blood samples healthy and deliver them safely to people in need (Moses).

Although keeping blood healthy is necessary for a transfusion to happen, it cannot help anybody without means to get to hospitals. Rwanda is a very rural country with over 70% of the people living in rural areas (World). Known as the city of a “thousand hills,” Rwanda lacks proper infrastructure to drive packages quickly over wide areas of land (Rosen). To combat this problem, a company named Zipline was formed. Zipline uses fixed-wing drones in order to deliver packages of blood to hospitals in Rwanda. The drones are launched through a catapult-like system, and fly to any hospital in Rwanda in about 15 minutes (Stewart). 25% of the deliveries are emergencies, while the rest are restocking shipments (Perry). The package, according to MIT Technology Review is, “roughly the size of a shoebox, [and] attached to a parachute made of wax paper and biodegradable tape” (Rosen). Overall, drones are saving lives in Rwanda. So far, Zipline has delivered “more than 5,500 units of blood,” According to an article by the Guardian, “Never before have patients in the country received blood so quickly and efficiently.”(McVeigh).

Blood is necessary for life. Unfortunately, many people do not have access to blood transfusions and die because of it. 100,000 women die each year because of this preventable cause (Baker). Fortunately, technologies such as text messaging and drones have lessened the problem. As long as our society keeps innovating, these problems will affect fewer and fewer people over time. For now, we still have a long way to go.

Works Cited

Baker, Aryn. “Zipline's Drones Are Delivering Blood to Hospitals in Rwanda.” Time, Time, time.com/rwanda-drones-zipline/.

Kayumba, Malick. “Press Release - Rwanda Biomedical Center.” Rwanda Biomedical Center, Rwanda Biomedical Center, 14 June 2017, www.rbc.gov.rw/index.php?id=19&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=267&cHash=c3cb470e00d6f04792d194b917504ec4.

McVeigh, Karen. “'Uber for Blood': How Rwandan Delivery Robots Are Saving Lives | Karen McVeigh.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 2 Jan. 2018, www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/jan/02/rwanda-scheme-saving-blood-drone.

Moses, Kirui, et al. “Blood Donation, Transfusion Practices Grow as Safety Gets Ascertained.” Outlook Rwanda, 2017, pp. 14–17, issuu.com/rbc79/docs/minisante.

Perry, Paul. “Paul Perry - Zipline.” Stem Career Night. Stem Career Night, 21 Mar. 2018, Los Altos, Blach Intermediate School.

SwaibuKatare, Dr. “NEWSLETTER: Blood Is Life.” AfSBT, AfSBT, 6 Feb. 2018, www.afsbt.org/english/rwanda-national-blood-service-report-the-journey-to-success/.

Rosen, Jonathan W. "ZIP LINE: Help from above." MIT Technology Review, vol. 120, no. 4, Jul/Aug2017, p. 36. EBSCOhost, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sch&AN=123605616&site=ehost-live.

Stewart, Jack. “Drones Will Now Deliver Life-Saving Blood Supplies Throughout Tanzania.” Wired, Conde Nast, 24 Aug. 2017, www.wired.com/story/zipline-drone-delivery-tanzania/.

World Bank. "Rwanda: Urbanization from 2006 to 2016." Statista - The Statistics Portal, Statista, www.statista.com/statistics/455919/urbanization-in-rwanda/.