ICF: Use of Unmanned Aerial vehicles (Medical Drones) to Support Differentiated Service Delivery Models for Elimination of HIV in Uganda

ICF：使用无人机（医疗无人机）支持乌干达消除艾滋病毒的差异化服务提供模式

• 批准号: MR/Y019717/1
• 负责人: Rosalind Parkes-Ratanshi
• 金额: $ 220.67万
• 依托单位: Infectious Diseases Institute
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MR%2FY019717%2F1
• 关键词: ICF; Use; Unmanned; Aerial; vehicles

Context of Aims & Objectives:Fishing populations living on islands struggle to get their HIV medication and other medications, they have to travel long distances by boat to the closest health facility. Small unmanned aircraft (medical drones) are being tested in Africa for delivering medication and other medical supplies in areas where there are long distances to health centres or limited road transport.This research study hopes to compare the use of small unmanned aircraft (medical drones) to deliver medicines to people living with HIV in an island district in Uganda (Kalangala) that consists of 84 islands. We aim to see if delivering medicines by this method helps people to better manage their HIV. This will be measured by looking at the level of HIV in their blood (viral load) which gives an indication if they are taking their medicine, reacting well to their medicine. If we cannot detect HIV in their blood it is a good indication that they will suffer minimal health problems related to their HIV, and cannot pass it on to their sexual partners. We will also look to see whether people living with HIV are attending appointments for their HIV. We will also conduct research to see if people living with HIV and health workers are comfortable with using medical drones and what other medical uses, they think the drone could be helpful for. In addition, we will compare the financial costs of using drones versus boats. We will also look at different types of drones, including ones that look like the photography drones widely used by the public, to a large one that looks more like a small plane. We will also try a recyclable drone made mainly of cardboard. We will look at the carbon use of drones (which use batteries) compared to boats with petrol motors.b) Potential applications and benefitsOne may be tempted to ask why this study is needed. Aren't drones just transport vehicles like cars or boats? As long as they can travel the distance, why do we need to study them in a direct comparison? Drones are new and not widely used to carry medical goods. A key barrier to wider adoption has been the lack of rigorous data examining the impact of drones and their costs. The reason is that the real-life implementation of any intervention is almost always different than predicted. This has been the case for all kinds of medical and social interventions and is likely to be the case for medical drones. This study using rigorous methods, will allow us to document the real-world impact of drones beyond the estimations that people have used to justify medical drones so far.Over the last 12 months, we established a small medical drones pilot project in the Kalangala District. For three years before that, we collected data on patients' challenges getting to health centres and any problems in getting medication when they get there. Based on our observations of significant barriers to patients getting steady medicine supplies, we sought permission from the Ministry of Health and other authorities, including Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Defence, to do a small medical drones project. To test to assess whether this kind of project is possible in this setting, we have managed to deliver HIV drugs to 99 people living with HIV by medical drone. Of these, we completed 12 months of delivery to 63 people using medical drones in September 2022. We have reached 5 islands and delivered to 17 peer support groups whose leaders have trained on safe drone drug delivery.It is now time for a more robust study. If this study shows that patients are comfortable receiving their medication by drone, or saves money, or helps the environment by using less petrol than boats, then we believe that medical drones could be used in many places around the world where it is difficult for people to get their medication. We would first try to extend the medical drones in East Africa and then move to other sites in Africa for further work.

目标与目标的背景：生活在岛屿上的捕鱼人群难以获得艾滋病毒药物和其他药物，他们必须乘船长距离前往最近的医疗机构。在非洲进行了小型无人飞机（医疗无人机），以在与卫生中心长途或有限的道路运输范围内长途交付药物和其他医疗用品。这项研究希望比较使用84 Mrountess的乌干达（Kalangangala）的艾滋病毒的小型无人机（医疗无人机（医疗无人机），以向乌干达（Kalangangala）的岛屿地区的艾滋病毒运送艾滋病毒的人。我们的目标是查看通过这种方法提供药物是否有助于人们更好地管理艾滋病毒。这将通过查看其血液中的艾滋病毒水平（病毒载荷）来衡量，这表明他们是否服用药物，对药物做出很好的反应。如果我们无法检测到他们的血液中的艾滋病毒，那很好地表明，他们将遭受与艾滋病毒有关的最小健康问题，并且不能将其传递给他们的性伴侣。我们还将研究是否有艾滋病毒的人参加艾滋病毒的约会。我们还将进行研究，以查看患有艾滋病毒和卫生工作者的人是否可以使用医疗无人机以及其他医疗用途，他们认为无人机可能会有所帮助。此外，我们将比较使用无人机与船只的财务成本。我们还将查看不同类型的无人机，包括看起来像公众广泛使用的摄影无人机，看起来更像是一架小型飞机。我们还将尝试主要由纸板制成的可回收无人机。与带有汽油电动机的船相比，我们将研究无人机的碳使用（使用电池）。无人机不只是运输汽车或船只等车辆吗？只要他们能够走向距离，为什么我们需要直接比较它们？无人机是新的，并且不被广泛用于携带医疗产品。更广泛采用的关键障碍是缺乏严格的数据来研究无人机的影响及其成本。原因是任何干预措施的现实实施几乎总是不同于所预测的。各种医疗和社会干预措施就是这种情况，医疗无人机可能是这种情况。这项研究使用严格的方法，将使我们能够记录无人机的现实影响，超出人们迄今为止为医疗无人机辩护的估计。在过去的12个月中，我们在卡兰加拉（Kalangala）地区建立了一个小型医疗无人机飞行员项目。在此之前的三年中，我们收集了有关患者挑战到卫生中心的挑战的数据，以及在他们到达那里时获得药物的任何问题。根据我们对患者获得稳定药物供应的重大障碍的观察，我们寻求卫生部和其他当局（包括民航局和国防部）的许可，以进行小型医疗无人机项目。为了评估在这种情况下是否可能进行此类项目，我们已设法向99名通过医疗无人机染上HIV的人提供艾滋病毒药物。其中，我们于2022年9月完成了12个月的交付给63人。我们已经到达了5个岛屿，并交付给了17个同伴支持小组，他们的领导者已经接受了安全无人机药物的培训。现在是时候进行更强大的研究了。如果这项研究表明患者可以舒适地通过无人机接受药物，或省钱，或者通过使用少于船只的汽油来帮助环境，那么我们认为，在世界各地的许多地方都可以使用医疗无人机，在这些地方很难服用药物。我们将首先尝试扩展东非的医疗无人机，然后搬到非洲的其他地点进行进一步的工作。