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Uganda
Global Energy Transfer Feed-in Tariff (GETFiT)
UK - Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
The Global Energy Transfer for Feed-in Tariff (GET FiT) Programme was established in 2013 with the main objective of assisting Uganda to pursue a climate resilient low-carbon development path by facilitating private sector investments in renewable electricity generation projects. The support provided was expected to improve access to electricity and promote growth and economic development in Uganda and contribute to climate change mitigation.
Establishing and enhancing veterinary surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and use in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
This project aims to help establish effective surveillance for longer term capacity building for AMR in the terrestrial and aquatic veterinary sectors in selected LMICs, and to enhance veterinary medicines regulatory training.
Global Programme on Sustainability
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
The programme supports sustainable economic growth that is both long-lasting and resilient to climate-related stressors. It does this through the integration of natural capital into decision making by governments, the private sector and financial institutions. The inability to value natural capital can undermine long-term growth and critically, the livelihoods of the poorest people dependent on ecosystems for their livelihoods. This programme directly addresses this challenge by (i) investing in data and research on natural capital; (ii) assisting countries to integrate this analysis into government policy making; and (iii) integrating this data and analysis into financial sector decision making.
Darwin Initiative
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
The Darwin Initiative is the UK’s flagship international challenge fund for biodiversity conversation and poverty reduction, established at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. The Darwin Initiative is a grant scheme working on projects that aim to slow, halt, or reverse the rates of biodiversity loss and degradation, with associated reductions in multidimensional poverty. To date, the Darwin Initiative has awarded more than £195m to over 1,280 projects in 159 countries to enhance the capability and capacity of national and local stakeholders to deliver biodiversity conservation and multidimensional poverty reduction outcomes in low and middle-income countries. More information at https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/the-darwin-initiative. This page contains information about Rounds 27 onwards. For information about Rounds 1 to 26, please see the Darwin Initiative website -https://www.darwininitiative.org.uk/
Fleming Fund - Country and Regional Grants and Fellowships Programme
UK - Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
The Fleming Fund helps low- and middle-income countries to fight antimicrobial resistance. A management agent has been appointed to deliver: country grants 24 low- and middle-income countries, regional grants in West Africa, East and Southern Africa, South Asia and South East Asia, and a global fellowships programme. These initiatives aim to improve laboratory capacity and diagnosis as well as data and surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Through the country and regional grants and the fellowships programme the Fleming Fund will: build laboratory capacity for diagnosis; collect data on drug resistance, drug quality, drug use and the burden of disease associated with AMR; enable the sharing of data relevant to AMR locally, regionally, and internationally; encourage the application of data to promote the rational use of antimicrobials; shape a sustainable system for AMR surveillance and data sharing; and increase national leadership in addressing AMR. Projects funded through Fleming Fund will benefit people in low- and middle-income countries, where the burden of drug resistant infection is greater.
MRC funding for Programmes and Awards at MRC Uganda Unit
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
MRC funding for Programmes and Awards at MRC Uganda Unit - Science is delivered through six programmes feeding into each theme, including HIV Epidemiology and Intervention, Cancer Epidemiology, Social Aspects of Health Across the Life-Course, Pathogen Genomics Phenotype and Immunity, Immunomodulation and Vaccines, and NCD Phenotyping.
Core - International Collaboration Awards
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
International Collaboration Awards enable outstanding researchers in the UK to partner with the best research groups in developing countries on projects that address issues faced by developing countries.
Pay-N-Pump 2 - storage integration for home and institutional energy access, and improved irrigation impact
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
PAY-N-PUMP is an innovative smart digital pay-as-you-go water-pumping and irrigation solution for small scale farmers in Uganda, built in a push-cart format, developed by Aptech Africa Ltd in an Energy Catalyst 7 project, in partnership with SVRG. Despite COVID-delays, more than 65 systems have been piloted, and farmers have observed crop-yields and household-income increase by as much as 200%. The 3 pieces of consistent feedback from customers are: 1. hours of irrigation do not match farm demand (optimum timing is dawn and dusk, when solar power is weak) 2. inability to use the system for household or institutional (eg schools, clinic, church) energy access, eg for lighting, phone charging or other new micro-entrepreneurial businesses 3. system is out of the price range of many farmers In this project, partners Aptech Africa and SVRG, will seek to modify the Pay-N-Pump technology to include modern, reliable Li-Ion battery storage to both enhance irrigation performance to better match market-demand, and simultaneously to make the system dual-use, so that it can both provide farm irrigation and also household or institutional energy access. This is a considerable technical challenge, but also a consumer challenge to find a design that can optimise system performance and impact in both use-case scenarios. But success in this project would see the creation of a unique, transformative technology. At the moment, users need two separate systems for household and irrigation services. This is not only expensive, but household systems are typically small and unreliable, and hard to scale as household energy-usage increases. There is no product currently on the market that combines the two use-cases as we propose, in a PAYG business model, and which is mobile for ultimate flexibility and ability to serve different needs, and therefore that is able to create such a wide range of impacts. Our modelling suggests that the storage-enhanced dual-use PAY-N-PUMP could increase farm yields by 250%, and provide irrigation and household energy at 70% of the cost of using two separate systems. We estimate that the two-in-one nature of this solution will at least double our market size, and consequently not only significantly increase agricultural productivity in Uganda, but also provide a novel and attractive solution for energy access in rural communities, since it transforms energy-access from a cost to a profit-making opportunity. This project simultaneously addresses SDG-7(Clean and affordable energy), SDG-1 (No Poverty), SDG-2 (Zero Hunger), SDG-6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), and SDG-13 (Climate Action).
Hydroxyurea - Pragmatic Reduction In Mortality and Economic burden (H-PRIME)
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
MRC/JGHT award aiming to conduct a policy changing trial to address three key interventions that could make a substantial difference to the lives of children born with sickle cell anaemia (SCA) in lowincome regions in subSaharan Africa
Balancing safety and good care in the context of infectious disease outbreaks: learning health systems for infection prevention and control in Uganda
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
MRC JHSRI award to balance safety and good care in the context of infectious disease outbreaks: learning health systems for infection prevention and control in Uganda COVID-19
Promoting Universal Health Coverage for Amputees through Social Enterprise and Engineering Innovation
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
MRC JHSRI award to determine how engineering and social innovation can improve Uganda's ability to deliver universal health coverage in prosthetic services
Improving access to asthma care for children and adolescents in Uganda
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
MRC ARL award to understand whether innovations like checking every child and adolescent visiting primary care health facilities for asthma symptoms can lead to an increase in the number of children diagnosed with asthma, and whether education about asthma directed to patients and their caregivers can lead to improvements in the understanding of asthma, use of medicines and subsequent reduction in frequency of symptoms.
BioEnergy Powering Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods Enhancement- BEPeARLe
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
According to the International Energy Agency, 770 million people worldwide do not have access to electricity today, primarily in Asia and Africa. Energy insecurity is one of the biggest problems in rural areas because poor grid infrastructure and connections are a significant contributor to the lack of access to power, which impedes socioeconomic development. Rural electrification will not only spur economic growth but also narrow the urban-rural divide. How can we address energy infrastructure on a budget when high-capacity batteries are (mostly) prohibitively expensive? Solar photovoltaics (PV) is already a tried-and-true method of producing electricity off-grid. Our vision is to provide all three components of the energy trilemma - affordability, reliability, and sustainability of clean energy access - to marginalized communities in five target countries -- Botswana, Cambodia, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia, via our Agrivoltaic Solar - Biomass Gasification - Biogas Hybrid system. Mandulis, through its zero-waste circular economy model, generates clean energy solutions from waste, enabling smallholder farmers to access clean electricity for powering their households and businesses, clean cooking fuel, energy-saving cookstoves, agricultural processing services, and soil enhancers. The uniqueness of our circular economy model, leveraging on and revalorizing residues and byproducts of the process, makes all these goods and services affordable, reliable, and sustainable for smallholder farmers, having a great positive impact on poverty alleviation, climate resilience, and biodiversity protection. This project will demonstrate the economic benefits that can be achieved by integrating agriculture and energy. As a core business objective of Mandulis Energy, bringing these two sectors together will foster cross-sectoral engagement, stimulate business opportunities, and partnerships between smallholder farmers in the targeted areas with larger economic players. It will also develop locally the skills necessary to put these multifunctional technologies into use and keep them maintained. To disseminate knowledge, comprehend end-user requirements, and develop a supply-chain integration strategy, we will work directly with local communities, energy developers, and SMEs in all target countries as we implement: 12 PV - biomass gasification - digestion systems in Uganda (6 sites - 100 kW, 1 site - 500 kW), Botswana (1 sites - 100 kW), Nigeria (1 site - 100 kW), Zambia (1 site - 100 kW) and Cambodia (1 site - 100 kW), generating low carbon, reliable, affordable and productive renewable energy to drive post-harvest processing, clean cooking fuel and biofertilisers.
Solar And Biogas Off-grid Power (SABOP) for Rwenjeru Agrotourism and Demonstration Farm, Mbarara, Uganda.
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
In this project, we will integrate of 2 well-established technologies (solar photovoltaic power and biomethane from biodigestion of waste biomass) to create a 24-hours' all-weather electricity supply minigrid that will tackle the colossal lack of access to energy in Uganda (particularly Rwenjeru Agrotourism and Demonstration Farm). Also, we will implement a renewable milk chiller as a productive use of energy at Rwenjeru. Furthermore, we will conduct a market analysis and develop a business plan for the viable and affordable deployment of the project outcome and for future scale-up beyond the project. Our waste-to-energy anaerobic digestion system will help to process food and agricultural waste that will otherwise pollute the environment, into clean renewable energy (24hrs) for an agrotourism business and \>1,000 farmer's household. By performing initial socio-economic appraisal, we will access the affordability of potential end-users and the viability of the SABOP energy platform. We will leverage on the intrinsic waste-to-energy approach of the SABOP system to match the affordability of Ugandans. The implementation of a smart minigrid allows us to accurately measure loading and generation capacity of SABOP and to effectively plan for expansion into neighbouring communities. We will engage with local and national stakeholders to ensure buy-in and share outcomes from the project to improve energy policy in Uganda. The use of biomethane as an alternative to gasoil is expected to improve local air quality, with regards to NOx and particulate matter. We will reduce Rwenjeru's dependence on highly polluting diesel and petrol powered electricity generators. By generating electricity with solar power instead of fossil fuels, we can dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2). Our stakeholders and community engagement (workshops, social media, and flyers) will increase environmental awareness and prompt end-users to be more resource efficient in other parts of their daily life. Reliable electricity supply from the SABOP system will improved street and community lighting which will enhance security in Rwenjeru. By increasing the productivity and profitability through energy access, as well as providing cheaper biofertilizer to farmers (76% women), households will be able to improve the quality and quantity of food in the homes with positive impact on the general health and well-being of people.
Testing of new designed highly efficient small Solar fridges for Africa
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Problem Statement Most SSA countries suffer food shortages and malnutrition (36% under-fives are stunted in Africa, with highest-prevalence in East Africa). 54% of under-five's mortality is due to malnutrition and related complications. Uganda's milk consumption is 65litres/annum, well below WHO recommendations (210litres/annum) In order to expand agricultural production and reduce wastage by the Productive Use of Energy (PUE), off-grid fridges are urgently needed in rural areas where grid expansion is not economically viable. Most (\>90%) dairy production is provided by smallholder farmers (with <5 cows each). Unlit roads and lack of refrigeration mean that the night milking (50% of production) cannot be sold in the formal milk-chain and either feeds the family, local people (unpasteurised and hence less safe) or is wasted together with milk which arrives at the depot with too high a bacterial content. As the Government expands breeding programmes to cross-breed local varieties with European high-yield strains, this wastage weakens the economic viability for such programmes and does not help farmers already too far from collection centres, lessening the impact of such modern livestock management programmes. Outcomes We will design and test a suit of solar-powered, high-efficiency fridges. These off grid powered cooling solutions will improve small-holders dairy revenue and offer retail opportunities for food & drink sales, hence increasing farmers' livelihoods, increasing the value of milk products Increasing the "life" of foods and drinks decreasing malnutrition. We will use phase-change materials and high insulation to eliminate batteries from the fridges, reducing power costs, and allowing us to develop cost-effective refrigeration units. Longer storage times will reduce milk wastage and allow more remote farms to sell the milk. Uganda already has twice the milk processing capacity compared to its current milk collection volume. Solar powered phase-change refrigerators in shops will increase dairy and meat sales in rural areas where malnutrition is concentrated. Women are already active in the dairy production chain but are under-represented in some higher value jobs, especially in milk transportation and at management levels in the farmer-owned milk cooperatives. We seek to change this through training; and developing ergonomically designed products with their needs in mind at the follow on pilot/field trial stage (via future funding). Our solutions are zero-net-carbon solutions, with no recourse to using scarce unsustainable resources. This project will demonstrate that increasing nutrition and reaching net-zero-carbon products are not mutually exclusive. This project benefits both targets.
ACE DELIVERS: Distribution of Energy to the Last-Mile through an Inclusive Value-Chain Ensuring Responsible Services
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
African Clean Energy (ACE), in collaboration with The Challenges Group, seek to establish a scalable, decentralised and digitised distribution model for transitioning households from harmful charcoal usage to sustainable local fuel options. ACE has demonstrable demand for its sustainable briquettes, however, the existing method of ordering and delivering fuels through local agents becomes impractical and unsustainable as ACE expands its geographical market penetration. This project will demonstrate the advantages of developing an inclusive approach to reconfiguring and incentivising Uganda's current physical infrastructure -- including local retailers serving as satellite suppliers, and motorcycle riders -- to promote efficient and cost effective decentralised last-mile delivery. By then overlaying this infrastructure with a digital framework, the approach will enhance access to affordable sustainable cooking options. This will, in large part, be accomplished by further enhancing ACE's proprietary app, ACE Connect. The project's innovativeness revolves around the following three components: 1. Digital Technology: Inspired by companies like Jumia Foods, ACE will utilise digital technology to engage and incentivise decentralised distribution value chain players and drive the transition to sustainable energy. 2. Hybrid Finance Model: ACE will implement a hybrid finance model that utilizes measured carbon offset revenue and scalable digital systems. By utilising digital tools to measure, collect, and monetise impact data, the project aims to disrupt existing practices by introducing positive incentives and commercial operations that consider both the "ability to pay" of end consumers and the "willingness to pay" of Carbon Offset Buyers.This approach aims to alleviate the financial burden on the poorest households while ensuring their active engagement in the project. 3. Value Chain Replication: The project will ensure replication the innovative decentralised and digitised value chain approach in different contexts (including humanitarian, development and conservation) through partnerships with third parties. This strategy enables scalability and financial viability in multiple locations, promoting sustainable growth. Given 92% of energy consumed in Uganda comes from biomass, primarily charcoal, used for home cooking, this project is extremely timely. Uganda has experienced a significant loss in tree cover due to charcoal production, prompting recent executive orders to ban charcoal production in Northern Uganda. ACE's responsible approach to catalysing a just transition from the charcoal value chain will have a lasting impact on affordable, reliable and low carbon energy access in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.
Li-Ion Battery Storage Circularity For Africa By Africa for Low-Carbon E-Mobility E-Agriculture and Minigrids
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Kampala, Uganda has the 17th worst air pollution in the world, with an abundance of motorcycles contributing with unregulated emissions. 75% of Ugandans are rural farmers, living off of subsistence farming with energy access rates below 10%. Meanwhile, the two-wheeled EV (2WEV) market is taking off in the region, poised to help reduce air pollution but introducing a looming e-waste problem caused when their lithium-ion batteries reach the end of their service life. Taken separately, these are problems. But together they represent an opportunity to turn e-waste into e-resources, increase energy access and agricultural productivity, and boost the uptake of clean energy solutions. To this end, Soleil Power and STI4D are implementing a project to build high-quality 2WEV batteries designed for efficient repurposing into affordable and scalable 2nd-life products for energy access customers. We want to get ahead of the curve by enabling a circular battery value chain right from the start. Li-Ion batteries have a long total life-span but they are removed from EV service once they are depleted to 80% of their original capacity. Thereafter, whilst they are no longer optimal for EV use, they still have very high potential value in stationary applications such as mini-grids and institutional ESS. To capture this value, STI4D and Soleil will also design affordable 2nd-life products that can be deployed off-grid or as backup-power. Soleil will build on existing partnerships to test these innovative products. E-mobility company Zembo, building 2WEVs and battery swapping/charging infrastructure, sees high value in procuring their batteries domestically as well as having a partner to offtake them after they have completed their service. E-Ag partner Regenerators, who are working to increase smallholder productivity through the introduction of an electric tractor will also pilot the EV battery. Soleil's experience shows that much of the cost associated with the repurposing of EV battery products depends on the complexity of disassembly, testing and rebuilding used battery-modules. The new designs will streamline and accelerate this process to reduce e-waste and facilitate circularity whilst increasing access to clean and affordable energy. A better understanding of the battery circular economy in East Africa is critical to finding optimal ways to incentivize commercial investment, so STI4D and Soleil will also use the project as a case study on which to conduct a value-chain analysis, developing and collecting data on sustainable business models including for combining energy access systems with battery-charging as anchor loads.
Innovative Agricultural Cross-Subsidised Financing of Access to Clean Energy and Sustainable Cooling with Smart Agri-Centres in Uganda
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
In an EnergyCatalyst7 project, SVRG with Ugandan partners developed a game-changing approach to rural energy-access, economic-empowerment and agricultural-productivity. The SmartAgri-Centre(SAC) combines a50kW centralised solar-power plant with an integrated set of community productive use and agri-value-addition services, in a large central community hub. Feedback from the local community shows the social impact the Centre has brought, including improved environment, knowledge of farming practices, income, savings and positive impact on family life and education. In the first year of operation, analysis showed that the SAC services helped farmers quadruple average annual earnings (up from $800 to $3100), increase yields across a variety of crops, and reduce input costs by 30%. Across the community, in that year, the centre generated additional value of $211,500. GESI impacts were also apparent: the majority of the 110members of the newly-formed agricultural cooperative are women, and female farmers reported positive impacts from the SAC. 40% of Co-op board members, and 40% of the business committee are female. The SAC is designed to address specific priorities and needs of a community, so each is subtly different. But the average cost to SVRG and partners of providing the infrastructure, and years of community support/training is around$250,000. The data we have collected suggests that communities should be able to afford to repay this cost in less than 2 years from their increased earnings. Our challenge in scaling this solution is to determine the best business model and community engagement strategy for the community to be able to repay the costs of providing the SAC from their agricultural income. According to the data we have collected, the community earns enough to repay the costs in under 2 years. However, the mechanism for this is far from obvious. Individual farmers in these communities are highly risk-averse (as well as lacking financial skills and creditworthiness). Entering into contractual arrangements with 100+ separate farmers to ensure repayment would be unworkable. Alternative models (operating the centres ourselves and collecting revenues and taking a cut of agricultural earnings as a "benign middleman", or establishing/empowering a community cooperative to do the same, have other risk factors and disadvantages). In this project, SVRG and partners will construct and operate 6 of the SACs in new communities, trialling different business/repayment models, to establish the ones that will allow us to scale the roll-out of the technology to rural communities with the highest amount of success, impact and commercial return.
Powering Uganda's Clean Energy Future: Biomethane Technology and Innovation for Clean Cooling in Rural Uganda (BioCool)
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Uganda's population was estimated to be around 47.8million people in 2021. The vulnerability of Uganda to climate change is a significant driver of food insecurity in the country. Considering a relatively high population growth rate of approximately 3.28% (World Bank, 2021), up to 2.5million people have been projected to face high levels of acute food insecurity in 2023 in Uganda (The Independent Magazine, 2023). Food insecurity is worsened by a gross lack of electricity among the rural population. Only 10% of the rural population has access to electricity. This hinders the use of efficient irrigation systems, storage facilities, and processing equipment, resulting in post-harvest losses and reduced food availability (Tröger et al., 2020)*. Post-harvest losses and food insecurity in Uganda can be tackled by improved cooling systems (Amjad et al., 2023)**. AD produces biomethane, a low-cost and low-carbon fuel that can be effectively adapted for rural communities. With biomethane, we can power cold storage units, providing a reliable means of preserving perishable goods. Notably, biomethane production is versatile. Various organic materials can be utilised, such as animal manure and market wastes. By harnessing the vast reserves of organic waste, we can generate biomethane and effectively operate refrigerators (Lsoto, 2020)***. This renewable energy source offers a sustainable and cost-effective solution for off-grid supply. Uganda is one of the few countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) that is exploiting AD technology to provide household cooking and electrification, with over 30,000 digesters installed. However, techno-economic issues like insufficient feedstock supply and operating/maintenance know-how by rural households limit its long-term application and widespread adoption. For example, about 60% of digesters have become non-operational due to water and manure scarcity (Smith et al., 2013)****. The BioCool project will tackle this need by implementing an Energy as a Service (EaaS) business model, shifting the techno-economic responsibilities to the energy provider. This approach not only guarantees improved livelihoods for the rural population but also ensures that customers only pay for the fuel they consume. By doing so, it provides them with enhanced access to reliable, affordable, and low-carbon fuel options. Additionally, the BioCool Project will incorporate co-digestion and the use of a slurry separation technology to facilitate water recirculation back into the AD system, further enhancing its efficiency. *https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.02.017 **https://doi.org/10.1093/ce/zkad015 *** Lsoto Dorothy (2020). Evaluating Biogas Chiller Performance and Adoption in Eastern Uganda (Kumi District) Master's thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison. **** Final Report. DFID NET-RC AO6502.
Use of Unmanned Aerial vehicles (Medical Drones) to Support Differentiated Service Delivery Models for Elimination of HIV in Uganda
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Context of Aims & Objectives: Fishing populations living on islands struggle to get their HIV medication and other medications, they have to travel long distances by boat to the closest health facility. Small unmanned aircraft (medical drones) are being tested in Africa for delivering medication and other medical supplies in areas where there are long distances to health centres or limited road transport. This research study hopes to compare the use of small unmanned aircraft (medical drones) to deliver medicines to people living with HIV in an island district in Uganda (Kalangala) that consists of 84 islands. We aim to see if delivering medicines by this method helps people to better manage their HIV. This will be measured by looking at the level of HIV in their blood (viral load) which gives an indication if they are taking their medicine, reacting well to their medicine. If we cannot detect HIV in their blood it is a good indication that they will suffer minimal health problems related to their HIV, and cannot pass it on to their sexual partners. We will also look to see whether people living with HIV are attending appointments for their HIV. We will also conduct research to see if people living with HIV and health workers are comfortable with using medical drones and what other medical uses, they think the drone could be helpful for. In addition, we will compare the financial costs of using drones versus boats. We will also look at different types of drones, including ones that look like the photography drones widely used by the public, to a large one that looks more like a small plane. We will also try a recyclable drone made mainly of cardboard. We will look at the carbon use of drones (which use batteries) compared to boats with petrol motors. b) Potential applications and benefits One may be tempted to ask why this study is needed. Aren't drones just transport vehicles like cars or boats? As long as they can travel the distance, why do we need to study them in a direct comparison? Drones are new and not widely used to carry medical goods. A key barrier to wider adoption has been the lack of rigorous data examining the impact of drones and their costs. The reason is that the real-life implementation of any intervention is almost always different than predicted. This has been the case for all kinds of medical and social interventions and is likely to be the case for medical drones. This study using rigorous methods, will allow us to document the real-world impact of drones beyond the estimations that people have used to justify medical drones so far. Over the last 12 months, we established a small medical drones pilot project in the Kalangala District. For three years before that, we collected data on patients' challenges getting to health centres and any problems in getting medication when they get there. Based on our observations of significant barriers to patients getting steady medicine supplies, we sought permission from the Ministry of Health and other authorities, including Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Defence, to do a small medical drones project. To test to assess whether this kind of project is possible in this setting, we have managed to deliver HIV drugs to 99 people living with HIV by medical drone. Of these, we completed 12 months of delivery to 63 people using medical drones in September 2022. We have reached 5 islands and delivered to 17 peer support groups whose leaders have trained on safe drone drug delivery. It is now time for a more robust study. If this study shows that patients are comfortable receiving their medication by drone, or saves money, or helps the environment by using less petrol than boats, then we believe that medical drones could be used in many places around the world where it is difficult for people to get their medication. We would first try to extend the medical drones in East Africa and then move to other sites in Africa for further work.