NAIROBI, Kenya – Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has unveiled plans to deploy drone technology to deliver critical medical supplies across the country.
Addressing the Senate on Wednesday, Aprill 22, Duale said the government is turning to drones to overcome long-standing challenges in accessing remote areas, particularly during extreme weather conditions that disrupt road transport.
“We are even introducing drones in terms of delivering items like blood during bad weather in some parts of our country,” he said.
The initiative is designed to close gaps in emergency response, especially in hard-to-reach regions where delays in delivering blood and other essential supplies have previously placed lives at risk.
Duale linked the move to ongoing reforms at the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa), noting that the agency has been fully capitalised to strengthen stock levels and improve nationwide distribution.
Beyond logistics, the CS said the government is also integrating technology into disease surveillance systems to enhance early detection and response, particularly for climate-sensitive outbreaks.
“We are doing surveillance and early warning to enhance disease detection and response, especially for climate-sensitive outbreaks like Rift Valley fever,” he said.
At the same time, he pointed to significant progress in strengthening Kenya’s laboratory capacity, saying the country is reducing reliance on foreign testing facilities.
“Today, I want to confirm to the country that the samples we used to send to the US CDC and South Africa are no longer necessary. We are doing a lot of our testing locally,” he said.
According to Duale, expanded capabilities at institutions such as Kenyatta National Hospital are now enabling the country to handle complex diagnostics internally.
He added that the adoption of technology extends to governance within the health sector, revealing that an artificial intelligence-driven system is already being used to detect and curb fraud within the Social Health Authority, flagging irregular claims among healthcare providers.
