Côte d’Ivoire has approved an eight-year public-private partnership with U.S. drone logistics company Zipline to expand its medical delivery network from one distribution centre in Daloa to 10 across the country, aiming to improve access to essential health supplies in hard-to-reach areas.
The expansion, led by the Ministry of Health, will allow drones to transport blood products, vaccines, essential medicines and other emergency medical supplies to health facilities, including in rural and remote areas where road access can be difficult, particularly during the rainy season.
Once fully deployed, the network is projected to serve more than 2,200 health facilities and over 12 million people, according to Zipline. The company said the partnership is part of Côte d’Ivoire’s efforts to expand universal health coverage under its Vision 2030 agenda.
The new network will build on Zipline’s existing operation in Daloa, which began in 2023. Since then, the company says it has delivered more than 3.55 million medical products to more than 220 health facilities across five regions. These deliveries included around 2 million vaccine doses and 20,500 units of blood products.
Under the agreement, nine additional distribution centres will be developed. The centres will combine medical warehousing, cold storage, inventory management, autonomous drone delivery and digital tracking, allowing health facilities to request supplies according to their needs rather than relying solely on scheduled road deliveries.
The project will be implemented in phases. The first phase covers Daloa as well as new centres in Biankouma, San Pedro and Kouto. A second phase will add six centres in the Autonomous District of Abidjan and the regions of Indénié-Djuablin, Gbêkê, Kabadougou, Bélier and Gontougo, according to details announced by the Ivorian government.
The U.S. government will provide upfront funding for the infrastructure needed for the expansion, supported in part by a $150 million pay-for-performance award from the U.S. Department of State. Côte d’Ivoire, meanwhile, has committed to financing the ongoing operations of the network.
Zipline said the expansion is expected to create hundreds of skilled jobs in areas including pharmacy, aviation operations, maintenance, logistics, engineering and data management.
The company also estimates that the expanded network could generate a return on investment of roughly 300%. That figure is an estimate provided by Zipline and has not been independently verified in the sources reviewed.
For Côte d’Ivoire, the expansion marks a move from a regional drone-delivery operation in Daloa toward a nationwide logistics network designed to strengthen the availability and speed of medical supplies across the country.