[EGreg]

While I liks the drone idea, I have to be pedantic here:

But that mission can be a challenge during emergencies, times of unexpected demand, bad weather, or for small but critical orders.

Um 2-3 out of those four will not be improved by drones!

Using drones for just-in-time deliveries will allow us to provide health facilities with complete access to vital medical products no matter the circumstance,” concluded Bwanakunu.

Including bad weather eh?

[anigbrowl]

Yes, including some bad weather scenarios. Drones are likely not great in torrential rain, but things like flooding and fog shouldn't be issues for them whereas they would for drivers.

Emergencies (presumably political or military) will bring challenges of their own (since drones could conceivably be doing espionage and might be shot at), but can be routed around, and for times of unexpected demand it's a lot cheaper to store and launch many drones than it is to whistle up many trucks and drivers.

OF course the use case is limited at present due to payload limitations and so forth, but is there anyone who doesn't expect that to keep improving?

[patrickmclaren]

While drones are indeed still susceptible to a multitude of bad weather scenarios in the air, they do bypass several major scenarios on the ground that frequently interrupt supply lines like flooding, fires, avalanches, etc.

[mleonhard]

Heavy rains can make dirt roads impassible. This is why transportation to clinics in remote villages becomes unreliable in the rainy season.

Example: http://www.frontpageafricaonline.com/images/countynews/bcty-...