African Drone Academy
In 2016 UNICEF started testing the use of drones in Malawi to reduce waiting times for HIV testing of infants, by flying dried blood spot (DBS) samples from hard-to-reach communities directly to laboratories. In collaboration with the Government of Malawi, UNICEF launched in 2017 the first humanitarian drone corridor to provide a controlled environment for governments, international aid organizations, private sector and universities to explore how drones can help deliver services that benefit the poorest and hardest to reach families in Malawi.
With its first campus located in Lilongwe, Malawi, the Drone Academy provides a technology education for post-undergraduate African students in the physics of drone flight, communications, mechatronics, autonomy, data analysis, GIS and entrepreneurship.
