EPICS in IEEE: Healthcare Access Flies High in Kenya

Development of a drone-based medical delivery system by an EPICS in IEEE student team helps
promote access to life-saving medical supplies in Kenya’s most remote and underserved communities.

While the city of Nairobi, Kenya is a thriving urban metropolis, large sections of Kenya are located in rural regions where basic infrastructure like roads and electricity are often underdeveloped and access to healthcare is limited. But a student team from Nairobi’s Kenyatta University is working to help level that playing field through their unique EPICS in IEEE-driven and IEEE Industrial Applications Society (IAS)-funded project entitled “Medical Supply Delivery Drones and Drone Logistics System,” which aims to enable the drone-based delivery of life-saving medical supplies for those suffering from medical emergencies in hard-to-reach locales.

In the following interview, Kenyatta University students and project co-leaders Emmanuel Musundi (a fifth-year student in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and a member of both the IEEE and IAS) and Alex Katuso Kilwaya (a graduate student in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and an IEEE member) discuss the need for their innovation, the products and skills involved in bringing their vision to reality, and their hope for the role their humanitarian-based technology can play in Kenya and globally.

What local/community challenge(s) does your innovation address?

Kilwaya:  Our project, which is affiliated with the Kenyatta University IEEE Student Branch, focuses on developing a drone-based medical delivery and logistics system designed to serve remote and underserved communities in Kenya.  In many rural regions such as Turkana and Tharaka and during floods in Kenya, access to life-saving medical supplies like vaccines, blood, and antivenoms (for snake bites) is severely limited due to poor infrastructure.  Only a small percentage of roads are paved and emergency response times are often delayed, leading to preventable deaths.  To address this, our Luna Drone System is a low-cost, scalable solution with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities that delivers medical supplies quickly, reliably, and contactlessly.  The system combines drone technology, biomedical engineering, and a low-bandwidth logistics platform to ensure healthcare access even in hard-to-reach areas.

How many people are on your team and what community partners have you aligned with?

Musundi:  Our core team consists of 18 students from across our university’s departments of Aerospace Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering, supported by three faculty mentors.  Our key community and institutional partners include the Kenya Red Cross, Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA), Kenyatta University Chandaria Innovation & Incubation Centre, Kenyatta University TIKA/CezeriLabs, and RICE 360 (through the Innovation Education, or IvE, Program).  Together, these partners help with logistics mapping, healthcare integration, and real-world deployment planning.

What products/technologies have you employed to-date? 

Kilwaya:  Our project integrates multiple advanced technologies and systems designed for local manufacturing, affordability, and scalability.  These include a hybrid VTOL fixed-wing drone (custom-built for long-range and flexible landing), embedded systems and avionics (STM32 microcontrollers, GPS, and IMUs), IoT and communication systems (LoRa, GSM, and telemetry radios), a biomedical payload system (a temperature-controlled compartment using Peltier cooling and sensors), a cloud-based logistics platform (built with Express.js, MongoDB, and Next.js), and low-bandwidth communication tools (SMS integration for rural accessibility).

What challenges did you encounter and what are the results of your project so far? 

Musundi:  Although our project is still in development, we completed our system design and planning phase, forged strong partnerships with healthcare and humanitarian organizations, engaged local high school students in STEM outreach, and developed our initial drone models and software architecture.  One of our biggest challenges was limited access to advanced manufacturing tools, such as PCB fabrication, but we addressed this by partnering with local innovation hubs like Gearbox and other universities to provide these services.

What key technical and professional skills have you gained from your project so far? 

Kilwaya:  On the technical side, we’ve built skills in drone design and aerospace engineering, embedded systems and PCB design, cloud computing and web development, and biomedical system design.  On the professional side, the project has helped us strengthen our skills in team collaboration across disciplines, project management, leadership, stakeholder engagement, and human-centered design and ethical engineering. 

What future activities are you planning for your project, and what role do you hope your innovation will ultimately play in the community (or in the world)? 

Musundi:  Our next steps include completing prototype fabrication and integration, conducting flight testing and validation, deploying the system in pilot health facilities, expanding community training programs, and improving our software platform with data analytics and optimization.  Our long-term vision is to build a national and scalable drone medical delivery network across Kenya and eventually expand globally.  We hope that the Luna system will become a reliable healthcare logistics solution in rural areas and one that motivates and empowers local communities to operate and maintain the technology.  We also hope that Luna will serve as a replicable model for other developing regions, not only for medical supplies but also for other applications such as agriculture.  Ultimately, we want this project to play a role in saving lives and reducing healthcare inequality worldwide. 

Finally, what would you like to share with prospective EPICS in IEEE participants about the value of the funding/support you received from EPICS in IEEE and the IEEE’s Industry Applications Society (IAS), and the opportunity to participate in an EPICS in IEEE project in general?

Kilwaya:  The support from EPICS in IEEE has and will continue to be instrumental in transforming our idea into a structured, impactful project; the funding and mentorship will provide not just financial assistance, but also validation and global visibility.  Support from the IAS is especially valuable because their involvement strengthens the technical depth and practical relevance of our project and connects our academic work to real-world engineering applications.  We want prospective participants to know that EPICS in IEEE is a powerful platform that allows students to apply engineering skills to real community challenges, gain hands-on experience, and create meaningful impact.

 

For more information on EPICS in IEEE or the opportunity to participate in service-learning projects, visit https://epics.ieee.org/. 

“EPICS (Engineering Projects in Community Service) in IEEE” is an initiative which provides opportunities for students to work proactively with both engineering professionals, technological innovation, and local organizations/partners to develop solutions that address global community challenges.