Director,
Grant Organization
Technology to Save Children from HIV is an organization that has been created to serve HIV vulnerable children in rural Malawi through a partnership with ZipLine Drones and UNICEF. Our organization seeks to develop a program aimed at ensuring fast and continuous delivery of HIV test kits, results, and antiretroviral drugs to provide immediate medical attention to HIV positive children. We propose the application of drone technology to facilitate easy and convenient transport of HIV testing supplies, test samples, and medication that has been hampered by the poor state of transport infrastructure in rural Malawi.
We seek $100,000 as funds in order to support the organization’s program. With your assistance, the organization will be able to develop the drone application program to assist in fast access to remote health centers. There has been immense progress in the application of drones in transport and we see an opportunity in applying the technology in the healthcare field.
We believe the application of drone technology will be significant in facilitating HIV testing for children on time and ensure that medical attention is offered before two weeks for HIV-positive children in rural Malawi. This program will be helpful not only to the Malawian government but also to the children who are at risk of dying due HIV-related diseases.
For answers to any question you may have, please contact Jane Jones: voice 999-555-1111, fax 555-5558-7778, or e-mail .
Sincerely
Executive Director
Executive Summary
A drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle guided by wireless GPS, cameras, and sensors. The drone technology is capable of delivering goods from point to point without a pilot and in the healthcare application it can be used to shuttle small emergency supplies packages from one depot to remote pickup centers. With healthcare centers located in remote areas, it may be difficult to deliver testing kits, test samples, and drugs considering the conditions of the roads. Drones will revolutionize air medical delivery services, particularly for reaching small and remote areas where access is limited by bad roads and lack of adequate transport infrastructure in Malawi.
This proposal brings forward a program aimed at incorporating the use of Drones to help reduce deaths caused by HIV-related diseases in rural Malawi. The program is carried out collaboratively with the UNICEF, Civil Aviation Authority, and the Malawian government. With all the requirements in place, the program is likely to become operational within a month from start up. This proposal indicates the mission of Technology to Save Children from HIV, the objective of the program, the budgetary aspects related to the program and the evaluation plan.
Introduction
Technology to Save Children from HIV is a non-profit organization located in Malawi. It was created in partnership with UNICEF with the aim of using technology applications to help reduce cases of mother-to-child HIV transmissions in Malawi’s remote locations. It was founded in 2016 and seeks to serve communities across the remote locations of Malawi.
Approximately 10.3% of the population in Malawi is HIV positive (AVERT, 2015). There have been new cases of HIV infection as a result of mother to child transmission. As a result, the Malawian government has recommended that HIV-exposed infants receive early infant diagnosis of HIV. There have been challenges in relation to slower processes of HIV testing for infants. This has been as a result of poor transport infrastructure, including roads and lack of airport facilities that result in the delayed provision of HIV status results to infants. As a result, there have been increased cases of HIV transmission from pregnant mothers to infants.
Mission
Work with the government of Malawi to promote a HIV-free children population in Malawi
Promote children’s right to live and their wellbeing
Set high standards in attending to the issues of HIV spread in children
Population Served
Technology to Save Children from HIV serves rural/remote communities in Malawi that lack good access to immediate medical care and treatment programs. The population of Malawi is estimated at 12.0 million, of which 91% live in rural/remote areas characterized by poor transportation networks (Floyd et al., 2010).
Problem Statement
Children need immediate medical attention within two weeks once they are found to be HIV positive. However, there are less than 10 laboratories nationwide in Malawi that serves the entire national population. The limited number of laboratories puts the rural/remote children population at risk of HIV-related diseases. It usually takes months for the results of blood tests for children to be delivered because of reliance on motorbike taxis for delivery services. The motorbike taxis often delay due to bad weather that affects the roads and financial problems. This makes it difficult for the children in the rural areas to access some of the vital testing and medical treatment services on time.
In 2014, it was approximated that 10,000 children in remote areas of Malawi died from HIV-related diseases due to lack of immediate medical attention (Government of Malawi, 2015).
Objectives
Technology to Save Children from HIV seeks to use drones to fulfill the following objectives:
Facilitate fast and convenient transfer of HIV test kits, blood samples, and antiretroviral drugs from the laboratories to the remote healthcare centers
Proposed Activities
Technology to Save Children from HIV will work with UNICEF, ZipLine Drone Company, and the Malawian Government through the Ministry of Health as well as the Malawian Civil Aviation Authority. The specific tasks include:
Develop a project committee comprising of a Director, Head of Operations, and a Chief Project Coordinator to facilitate technical and operational support. The committee will handle aspects including:
Onsite Assessment
Set up requirements
Testing
Maintenance
Provide necessary information concerning the operations of the drones to the Malawian Civil Aviation Authority for operational and maintenance certification.
Documenting the operating and maintenance costs and any other relevant information necessary concerning other aspects of drone operations that may affect the costs of operations.
Documenting the operational aspects of drone flights, including the flight endurance, flight paths under consideration, landing area size and locations, maximum take-off load, and reliability of the flights.
The presentation of operational and technical results the project committee and other stakeholders.
Project Evaluation Plan
For the assessment of how effective the program will be, the project committee will be involved in a survey program in which they will provide information to evaluate the management of the program. The information will help to identify problem areas that may be imminent and recommend areas of improvement.
Project Committee Information
Monthly reports will be developed by the project committee in which information about specific operational and technical aspects will be recorded by the operational manager and analyzed. Aspects such as maintenance information and frequency of activities will be recorded and analyzed. This will enable the identification of areas that may require more budgetary allocation or cut downs.
Data about technical operation costs will be documented and analyzed for comparison with the operating costs associated with the use of motorbike taxis. The comparison will be used in the assessment of how cost-effective the program is as compared to traditional strategies.
Community Information
The community served is an important stakeholder in the program as beneficiaries. Every month the project committee coordinators will collect information from the communities in the rural areas concerning their views about the effectiveness of the program. The information will be used to access the challenge areas that characterize the program services and any effects that the technical and operational aspects of the operation of drones would have on the local communities.
Budget
The major areas that have been identified in the budgetary aspect of the program include the start-up cost and salaries. Below is the breakdown of the budget:
Start Up: Facilities/ Equipment $50,000
Program Related Expenses $10,000
Communications $10,000
Consultations $10,000
Travel and per diem expenses $5,000
Salaries: Director $5,000
Head of Operations $2,500
Project Coordinator $2,500
TOTAL $100,000
References
AVERT. (2015, May 1). HIV and AIDS in Malawi. Retrieved from http://www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-around-world/sub-saharan-africa/malawi
Floyd, S., Molesworth, A., Dube, A., Banda, E., Jahn, A., Mwafulirwa, C.,& French, N. (2010). Population-level reduction in adult mortality after extension of free anti-retroviral therapy provision into rural areas in northern Malawi. PloS ONE, 5(10), e13499. Retrieved from http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0013499
Government of Malawi. (2015). Malawi AIDS Response Progress Report 2015. Government of Malawi. Retrieved from http://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/country/documents/MWI_narrative_report_2015.pdf
