2. Presentation Outline
• Brief introduction of Nepal
• Trend in the applications of drones in Nepal prior 2015
• Drones and The Nepal Earthquake 2015
• Towards building a drone ecosystem – Nepal Flying Labs
• Drones for the people
• Drones for Resettlement Planning
• Drones for Rural Health
• Challenges
• The way forward
4. Use of drones
prior 2015
WWF Nepal in 2012 started using fixed
wing Drones for Conservation
- Wildlife monitoting
- Patrolling against poaching and logging
5. Use of drones
prior 2015
International Centre for Integrated
Mountain Development (ICIMOD), with
Utrecht University from the Netherlands,
used UAVs to conduct survey of Lirung
Glacier
6. Use of drones
prior 2015
Few UAV research projects from student
levels
e.g. comparison of optimal drone
processing softwares, UAVs for biomass
estimation, etc.
8. Drones and
The Nepal Earthquake
2015
1. Aeryon Labs (Canadian drones maker), Monadrone (Drone company from
Monaco), GlobalMedic (Canadian humaniratiran aid company) conducted
search and rescue of a US marines helicopter with 6 marines and 2
Nepalese soldiers
2. Lots of aerial videos and photos of the earthquake-striken areas
3. Geotechnical damage assessment in the disaster affected areas by research
communities
14. Drones for
Resettlement Planning
• Lack of updated topographical data
• Inadequate quality of available data
• Post-disaster planning are crucial – need
to be quick, but sensitive also
• Community and stakeholders (including
donors) engagement is required
19. Drones for
Rural Health
Tuberculosis
The problem:
1. Hard to reach healthcare facilities
2. Lack of advanced technologies in majority of existing facilities
3. Lots of misdiagnosed cases (~13,000 cases of misdiagnosis per year1)
1Nepal Tuberculosis Program Nepal, Annual Report (2017)
https://nepalntp.gov.np/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Final-Annual-Report-NTPN-2018.pdf
Drones for
Rural Health
20. Drones for
Rural Health
Tuberculosis
The problem:
1. Hard to reach healthcare facilities
2. Lack of advanced technologies in majority of existing facilities
3. Lots of misdiagnosed cases (~13,000 cases of misdiagnosis per year1)
1Nepal Tuberculosis Program Nepal, Annual Report (2017)
https://nepalntp.gov.np/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Final-Annual-Report-NTPN-2018.pdf
Drones for
Rural Health
1. Hard to reach healthcare facilities
2. Lack of advanced technologies in
majority of existing facilities
3. Lots of misdiagnosed cases (~35 cases
of misdiagnosis per day1)
1Nepal Tuberculosis Program Nepal, Annual Report
(2017)
https://nepalntp.gov.np/wp-
content/uploads/2018/03/Final-Annual-Report-NTPN-
2018.pdf
TUBERCULOSIS
21. Drones for
Rural Health
Directly Observed Therapy System (DOTS)
Has been effective in the treatment phase, but not in the
detection phase
Drone Optimized Therapy System (DrOTS)
Improves on the detection phase to prevent misdiagnosed cases
Still > 11 deaths per day from TB
27. Challenges
1. Legal
Still need encouraging policies
2. Technological
More interests and investments towards innovating and advancing technology
3. Sustainability related
Building local capacity and encouraging entrepreneurship
29. The Future
For the next year
• Turn the pilot project into real implementations – building local capacity to sustain
the project by themselves
Longer Term
• Focus on generation of entrepreneurs more than technology itself
• Partner with educational institutions to better orient and prepare students
towards contributing to this cause