Drone delivers vaccines in key Vanuatu trial: UNICEF
19, Dec 2018
Prelims level : Space
Mains level : GS 3: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, Robotics, Nano-technology, Bio-technology and issues relating to Intellectual property rights.
Context:
- A one-month-old on a remote island in the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu became the first child to be immunised in a trial of drone-delivered vaccines, UNICEF said.
- If successful, the initiative could be replicated in isolated and far-flung areas around the world, the UN agency said.
About Drone:
- An unmanned aircraft or ship that can navigate autonomously, without human control or beyond the line of sight
- A drone is made from different light composite materials in order to increase maneuverability while flying and reduce weight. It can be equipped with a variety of additional equipment, including cameras, GPS guided missiles, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), navigation systems, sensors, and so on.
- Drones come in a broad range of shapes, sizes, and with various functions. The vast majority of today’s models can be launched by hand, and they can be controlled by remotes or from special ground cockpits.
- There are different variations in the frame and construction of drones, but the essential components that every drone must have is a waterproof motor frame, flight and motor controllers, motors, transmitter and receiver, propellers, and batteries or any other source of energy.
About UNICEF:
- The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund was created by the United Nations General Assembly on the 11th of December 1946, to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II.
- The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF ) is a United Nations (UN) programme headquartered in New York City that provides humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing countries.
- It is a member of the United Nations Development Group
- UNICEF is funded entirely by voluntary contributions, and the National Committees collectively raise around one-third of UNICEF’s annual income.
- This comes through contributions from corporations, civil society organizations around six million individual donors worldwide.