Effectiveness of Drone Technology on Access to Blood and Its Product in the Eastern Region of Ghana: A Cross-Sectional Study

OBJECTIVES: The study sought to ascertain whether or not drone technology has improved access to blood and its components in the Eastern region of Ghana by assessing the availability of blood and its componentized forms in transfusion facilities, the role of Zipline drone delivery in access to safe and sufficient quantity of blood products, the clinical outcomes of on-time access to blood products for transfusion and the empowerment of service providers to provide blood transfusion services to the population.

METHODS: The study used a cross sectional design to ascertain blood availability within the Eastern region of Ghana, clinical outcomes of blood transfusion cases, the role that aerial logistics has contributed in increasing access to safe blood products and how healthcare providers feel empowered about delivering transfusion services using primary data collected from 150 healthcare workers and secondary data from 16 hospitals.

RESULTS: There was a 45% increase in the responses for blood availability at the time of the study compared with five years ago, 71.3% and 71.4% reliance on the medical drone to deliver blood products within 1 to 3 hours or less turnaround time and on the medical drone to deliver fast, safe and reliable blood respectively. Also, there was a significant association (p<0.05) between first choice for securing blood and sources of safe blood, as well as turnaround times and sources that meet them. The medical drone service was the most mentioned preference for these indicators.

CONCLUSIONS: The medical drone technology is contributing to improving access to quality and safe blood products, meeting the turnaround time for blood transfusion and reducing maternal mortality ratio. It can be optimized to meet the demand for safe and quality blood products in every part of Ghana and beyond.