The U.S. Department of State is partnering with Zipline, the American robotics company running the world’s largest autonomous delivery network, in a deal that aims to transform access to medical supplies across Africa. The agreement will provide up to $150 million in performance-based financing to scale Zipline’s life-saving drone logistics infrastructure across Africa. At full deployment, the initiative could expand Zipline’s reach from 5,000 to 15,000 health facilities, bringing on-demand access to blood, vaccines, and essential medicines to as many as 130 million people across Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Rwanda.
For years, poor road networks and slow logistics have made the delivery of medical supplies in rural Africa costly, unreliable, and slow—often taking days or weeks. Zipline has been rewriting that story since 2016 with an autonomous logistics system that completes deliveries in under 30 minutes. The company has flown over 120 million commercial autonomous miles and completed 1.8 million deliveries with zero safety incidents, creating what many experts view as the future backbone of public health supply chains.
This new agreement—built on a first-of-its-kind pay-for-performance model—reflects a shift in U.S. foreign assistance toward results-driven, innovation-led partnerships. Under the structure, Zipline receives funding only when African governments commit to expanding drone delivery services and financing ongoing logistics. Collectively, these governments are expected to pay up to $400 million in utilization fees, ensuring long-term sustainability and country ownership.
For Zipline CEO Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, the partnership validates years of collaboration with African leaders seeking modern, accessible health infrastructure. He notes that presidents and prime ministers have consistently asked for “the best of American innovation” to solve critical challenges—technology capable of leapfrogging traditional systems and reaching underserved communities.
Independent research underscores Zipline’s impact: maternal deaths have dropped by up to 56% in areas where Zipline delivers; vaccine stockouts have decreased by 60%; and immunization rates have risen significantly. In some regions, delivery times have fallen from an average of 13 days to under 30 minutes, dramatically accelerating access to care.
African policymakers are equally enthusiastic. Rwanda, which pioneered Zipline’s first medical drone network, plans to extend drone services into urban areas. Côte d’Ivoire credits Zipline with reducing stockouts and improving health facility performance. Nigeria, where Zipline is already active in multiple states, sees drone delivery as a transformative tool for strengthening equitable healthcare access across its vast population.
For the U.S. government, this partnership exemplifies a modern approach to diplomacy—leveraging American AI, robotics, and autonomous systems to boost global health outcomes while strengthening economic ties. It supports local job creation too: each Zipline hub is staffed entirely by local employees, building technical capacity and stimulating economic growth in host communities.
State Department officials say this model matches foreign aid with private-sector innovation, catalyzing public investment without creating unsustainable debt. It also reinforces America’s position as a preferred provider of high-tech infrastructure across Africa.
