Côte d’Ivoire scales Zipline network to 10 centres

Côte d’Ivoire has approved an eight-year public-private partnership with Zipline to expand its AI-enabled healthcare logistics network from one distribution centre in Daloa to 10 centres nationwide.

Led by the country’s Ministry of Health under Minister Pierre N’Gou Dimba, the partnership is supported in part by a $150 million pay-for-performance award from the U.S. Department of State. Once fully deployed, the network is expected to serve more than 2,200 health facilities and 12 million people, while creating hundreds of skilled jobs and generating an estimated 300% return on investment.

The expansion is part of Côte d’Ivoire’s Vision 2030 agenda to strengthen universal healthcare coverage by improving access to blood products, vaccines, essential medicines and emergency supplies, particularly in rural and hard-to-reach areas where road access can be disrupted during the rainy season.

Zipline began operations in Daloa in 2023 in partnership with the Ivorian government. Since then, it has delivered more than 3.55 million medical products to over 220 health facilities across five regions, including around 2 million vaccine doses and 20,500 units of blood products. The company estimates that these deliveries have contributed to approximately 2,058 equivalent lives saved.

Pierre N’Gou Dimba, Minister of Health, Public Hygiene and Universal Health Coverage, said, “Every Ivorian, wherever they live, should be able to receive the essential health products they need quickly and reliably. Since Zipline began operating in Daloa, we have seen shorter delivery times, improved availability of vital products and stronger support for our health facilities. By expanding to 10 distribution centres, Côte d’Ivoire is taking a proven model nationwide and bringing essential healthcare directly to the communities that need it.”

Each Zipline distribution centre integrates warehousing, cold storage, inventory management, autonomous drone delivery and digital tracking into a single healthcare logistics system. The model allows health facilities to order medical supplies based on demand instead of relying entirely on scheduled road deliveries or maintaining large inventories.

The system also provides Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministry of Health with real-time visibility of orders, inventory levels and deliveries, enabling authorities to better anticipate demand, minimise stockouts and product expiries, maintain cold-chain integrity and respond more quickly to emergencies.

Under the partnership, the U.S. government will provide upfront infrastructure funding to support Zipline’s expansion, while Côte d’Ivoire will finance the network’s ongoing operations. The funding model is designed to support the country’s efforts to build a more self-reliant and efficient healthcare system, while ensuring that the expanded network remains financially sustainable, nationally operated, and integrated into its broader strategy for technology-driven and resilient healthcare.

Caitlin Burton, CEO for Zipline Africa, said, “Côte d’Ivoire is demonstrating what commercial diplomacy can achieve in practice: U.S. catalytic public funding and AI and robotics innovation combined with strong Ivorian government leadership and domestic investment. Together, we are building national-scale infrastructure that Côte d’Ivoire will lead and finance for the long term, strengthening state capacity, improving population health and creating new opportunities in advanced technology and entrepreneurship. This partnership will improve healthcare, save lives, strengthen outbreak response, support disaster response, and contribute to economic growth.”

Zipline Vice President for Africa Go-To-Market Xavier Greusard said the expansion goes beyond increasing delivery capacity, with the network designed to create an autonomous logistics backbone operated by Ivorian talent. He added that the deployment will help develop a local ecosystem around drones, AI and autonomous logistics, while training local teams in pharmacy, aviation operations, maintenance, logistics, engineering and data management.