Improving access to emergency malnutrition care for children
Zipline delivery of shelf-stable products is crucial for emergency malnutrition care.
The status quo
Several shelf-stable medical products are crucial for emergency care. One example is fortified food products used to treat malnourished children. Nutrition supplements such as high-calorie, ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), micronutrient powder, and therapeutic milk are easy to administer and lifesaving.
Yet, in Rwanda, traditional logistics prevented healthcare workers from accessing these products on-demand. Health facilities often ran out of products and had to wait for resupplies, which took place every three months, creating a gap in care for children who needed emergency medicine.
The Government of Rwanda took on childhood nutrition as a priority. More than a third of children1 in Rwanda between six months and five years-old are short for their age, a condition known as stunting—a result of chronic malnutrition.
Zipline’s role
Zipline delivery enables healthcare workers to appropriately treat cases of severe acute malnutrition as emergencies. Not only does Zipline close the resupply gap, it also provides 24/7 service. That means healthcare workers can order nutritional products on-demand if they need to treat a malnourished child.
Our impact
Zipline’s 24/7 availability of products enabled healthcare workers to order supplies to treat malnourished children whenever they needed. In 2023, Zipline delivered 200,000 units of nutritional products. Orders for nearly nine percent of those units were placed after working hours when the regional medical store was closed. In those cases, Zipline was the only option.
Demand for childhood nutrition products has grown. Zipline served 12 health facilities when the program launched in April 2022. Today, Zipline delivers to every facility outside of Kigali that administers emergency childhood nutrition care.
As of February 2024, Zipline has delivered more than 315,000 units of childhood nutrition products to hundreds of facilities. Zipline has also helped Rwanda’s regional medical store save costs by keeping products from expiring. In 2023, Zipline shipped dozens of units of emergency nutritional supplements that were within two months of their expiration date, keeping a crucial medical intervention available for malnourished children.