Two of Nigeria's 36 states signed an agreement with Zipline International to use drones to distribute Covid-19 vaccines to hard-to-reach and conflict-ridden rural areas in Africa's most populous country.
Zipline, which is based in San Francisco, is completing the construction of hubs and distribution centres, as well as obtaining the approval of regulators to operate in the states of Cross River and Kaduna with a target to make the first deliveries within three months.
Along with a decrepit road network across Nigeria's countryside, "rising insecurity also means that traveling or moving medical products can be very challenging," Daniel Marfo, a senior vice president at Zipline Africa, said in an interview.
Nigeria, home to about 200 million people, has administered just under half of the four million AstraZeneca doses that it received in March, lagging behind a target to vaccinate 70% of its citizens above the age of 18 by next year.