At 4:45 PM on October 30, Nyagatare District Hospital faced a crisis. A mother in labor suffered a placental abruption, causing severe bleeding. Both of her twins were born prematurely and in distress. Three lives were in danger and the hospital's blood supply was low.
By road this blood resupply would take more than six hours. Not fastenough to save these three lives. But this hospital was in luck: this hospital is a part of the Zipline network.
Acting fast, the lab technician did what she's done several times a day for the last 6 years: she sent a WhatsApp message to Zipline, placing an emergency order of blood. This order was for 8 units of B-red blood cells, platelets, plasma, and cryoprecipitate. This is as much blood as the mother had in her body, before this crisis unfolded.
71 kilometers away Zipline's team received the request. The team of pharmacists and flight operators packed nearly 7 pounds of blood bags into a Zip. Within 120 seconds, the order was launched and flying to the hospital at 70 miles per hour.
Less than 40 minutes later the hospital received their emergency blood order. Inside the delivery room, clinicians transfused the mother and prepared oxygen therapy for the twins. The hospital team provided two hours of intensive care before updating Zipline on the situation
The mother had stabilized, and both her twins were alive and breathing on oxygen. This remarkable outcome highlights the tragic divide that still exists in too much of our world today: basic lifesaving healthcare is still determined by your GPS location.
In October we crossed 9 years of operations in Rwanda. Now, at thousands of clinics just like Nyagatare, Rwanda, maternal deaths have been nearly eliminated thanks to faster, reliable logistics
When in need, Zipline delivers.
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On the evening of March 28th at 17:00 GMT, a 4-year-old girl was playing outside her home in Gbintiri, a farming village in the north east region of Ghana, when she was bitten by a venomous snake hiding under a pile of firewood.
Her parents, realizing the severity of the bite, rushed her to Gbintiri Health Center, the closest facility in the area.
The health workers quickly assessed the girl's condition and confirmed signs of envenoming: swelling and fading Consciousness.
They immediately checked their stockroom, only to discover they had run out of antivenom. The next referral hospital was over two hours away by rough road, but this little girl had 45 minutes before the venom would paralyze her heart.
With no time to spare, the medical team placed an emergency order to Zipline, requesting snake antivenom from the nearest Zipline distribution center, 77 km away.
Cruising at over 100 km/h, the Zip approached the health center in under 30 minutes
Without slowing down, the Zip released the lifesaving vial in a box with a paper parachute. Health workers retrieved it immediately and administered it to the little girl.
Within the hour, the little girl began to show signs of recovery. Her swelling reduced and she gradually regained consciousness.
The next day, Zipline followed up. The nurse on duty reported with joy that the child was stable, responding well to the treatment, and expected to make a full recovery. The prompt delivery, they said, had made the critical difference between life and death.
This little girl's story is a powerful reminder that every second counts. Access to life-saving medicine shouldn't be a privilege. When in need, Zipline delivers.
📍Ghana