[ti:Malawi Launches Humanitarian Drone Testing Center]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.04]Malawi has launched a testing center for humanitarian drones.
[00:07.56]The project is intended to explore the best ways to use drones
[00:14.16]to transport medicine and blood samples.
[00:18.92]Malawi's government will operate the testing center
[00:22.92]in cooperation with United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF.
[00:28.88]It is the first center of its kind in Africa.
[00:34.52]Officials from the government and UNICEF
[00:38.04]held a launch ceremony last week in the capital Lilongwe.
[00:43.37]Flights are expected to be fully operating by April 2017.
[00:50.20]The drones will be carrying materials as far as 40 kilometers.
[00:58.04]The most immediate use of drones in Malawi
[01:01.96]will be to help speed up the identification of HIV in babies.
[01:08.68]HIV is the virus that causes the disease AIDS.
[01:14.40]Malawi has one of the highest HIV infection rates in the world,
[01:20.64]especially among babies and children.
[01:24.56]Each year, about 10,000 children die in Malawi of HIV, according to UNICEF.
[01:32.71]Currently, it can take up to 11 days to transport blood samples
[01:38.52]to laboratories by motorcycle or ambulance.
[01:43.60]It can then take another four weeks for blood test results to be returned.
[01:49.56]UNICEF officials are hoping the drone flights will save many lives
[01:56.28]by cutting the time it takes to get HIV test results.
[02:01.96]It is important for infected children to get treatment
[02:05.88]as soon as possible to increase their chances for survival.
[02:11.24]In March, UNICEF-Malawi successfully completed its first drone test flight.
[02:20.28]A drone traveled 10 kilometers to deliver materials from a community health center to a hospital in Lilongwe.
[02:30.47]Drones also will be tested to see if they can support transportation and collect information.
[02:39.88]These are important tasks in Malawi,
[02:42.96]where severe droughts and flooding can make damage assessments difficult during emergencies.
[02:51.12]Drone aircraft are also being used in other parts of Africa
[02:56.72]to transport blood, medicine and humanitarian supplies.
[03:01.88]Earlier this year, the Rwandan government signed a deal to cooperate
[03:07.84]with a U.S.-based company to transport supplies to medical centers across the country.
[03:15.88]In Madagascar, drones fly blood and laboratory materials
[03:21.32]from rural villages to a research station for testing.
[03:26.96]The aircraft help doctors speed up the identification of disease in patients
[03:33.24]and make quick deliveries of vaccines.
[03:37.32]I'm Bryan Lynn.