Inspired by the CCN’s Cold-Chain for Global Health Programme

In Nyagatare District, Rwanda, Zipline’s innovative drone system has expanded beyond human health to include distribution of Rift Valley Fever (RVF) livestock vaccines to health facilities, addressing a crucial gap in animal disease control and helping to deliver One Health (combined human, animal and environmental health). Stakeholders, including Zipline staff and the vets who collect the doses from the facilities, highlight three main benefits of this approach: reduced transport time, enhanced cold-chain integrity, and cost savings. This model illustrates how integrating existing infrastructure can drive scalability, as well as sustainability, and following a field trip to Zipline, it has inspired Clean Cooling Network (CCN) "Cold-Chain for Global Health" students at the Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-Chain (ACES) to rethink cold-chain systems in their own contexts and work settings.

Translating Insight into Innovation

Building on immersive training modules and the Zipline visit, teams of trainees at ACES are applying their learning to innovative capstone projects aimed at transforming cold-chain systems. Here we describe four of their outstanding real-world inspired initiatives to help deliver One Health through deploying sustainable cold-chains.

1) Cold-Chain Gaps and Opportunities in Nutrition Programs: The potential of Shared Cooling Hubs with Real-Time Monitoring

In collaboration with ACES experts, one team is exploring the gaps that may exist in nutritional programmes and contributing to a proposal for piloting a regional cold-chain model. The latter aims to strengthen these essential health interventions, particularly in the case of supplementary foods, such as ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), and their ingredients/sources. The plan focuses on:

• Feasibility assessment of shared cooling/storage facilities (hubs): Centralised units serving multiple health centres and community nutrition sites for improved efficiency.
• Feasibility of more innovative real-time monitoring in primary healthcare settings: Sensors tracking key parameters beyond just temperature, for example humidity in food stores, using IoT-enabled devices such as Bluetooth data loggers.
• User-friendly interface: Tools for local health workers to monitor storage conditions and quickly report maintenance needs.

The initiative aims to reduce product loss from spoilage, extend shelf life, and enhance system reliability, particularly in locations with unstable electricity.

2) Dual-Domain Delivery: Integrated Human and Animal Vaccination Logistics

Another team is taking initial steps to explore the needs and design of a layered delivery model that builds on Zipline’s dual approach, thereby expanding its scope. This project examines the opportunities to pioneer a One Health-driven delivery system, integrating human and animal vaccination into a single, efficient operation where the two programmes communicate with each other effectively. Areas being explored include, but are not limited to:

• Joint delivery routes: Exploring the opportunities to harmoniously coordinate distribution activities for both human and animal vaccines, harmonising frequency and maximising logistical efficiency.
• Shared drop-off and collection points: Rethinking vaccine delivery to establish central locations, such as health centres, from which both healthcare and veterinary staff can collect their respective doses.
• Mutual reinforcement: Aligned infrastructure that can enhance resource utilisation, broaden vaccine access, and foster stronger community trust in integrated health services.

In essence, this project aligns human and animal vaccination efforts to reinforce each other, reducing costs, improving reach, and delivering on the One Health promise through smart, shared logistics.

3) Smart Cold-Chain: Data-Driven Quality Assurance and Predictive Maintenance

A third team proposes to leverage data analysis and prediction for infrastructure optimisation through the use of routinely collected vaccine cold-chain data collected at facility and national levels in Rwanda:

• National and facility-specific vaccine cold-chain data mining: Building on existing cold-chain data from sensors that capture temperature, humidity, and power status in storage units and during transport and storage.
• Analytics engine: Utilising analytics, trainees, supported by ACES engineering experts, aim to learn how to predict events such as compressor failures and seal breaches.
• Anticipatory action: Automated alerts to trigger service visits for failure prevention or to implement adjustments before product spoilage occurs.
• Performance dashboard prototype: An interface to present insights such as average downtime, risk heatmaps, and service logs, for empowering managers to make evidence-based decisions in peripheral settings like a health centre.
• Simulation modelling: Exploring the potential use of optimisation models to determine the placement of shared storage hubs for maximum coverage and minimal spoilage of health products.

4) Exploring Policy Implementations and Community Engagement Strategies for Animal and Human Immunisation Shared Logistics

In this area, proposals are developed by a team of trainees to engage both regulators and communities at a small scale. Some suggested approaches include community awareness campaigns, leadership dialogues, and stakeholder consultations aimed at building trust and promoting the consideration of shared logistics.

Bringing It All Together

By combining observation, research, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Cold-Chain for Global Health trainees are forging a bold path forward, reflecting and replicating newly learned innovative models to develop actionable, scalable systems in their local contexts. Their capstone projects are set to be effective implementations of One Health in practice, where innovation enhances both human and animal welfare through more efficient vaccine delivery. Exposure during their training to field-based learning means they are now on the threshold of implementing cold-chain innovations rooted in One Health thinking. Their projects aim to:

• Leverage shared infrastructure for human and animal vaccines.
• Optimise cold-chain logistics.
• Use evidence-driven design to maximise impact and efficiency.
• Ensure community and policy support for sustainable deployment.

The students have now formed a strong group contributing to the Cold-Chain for Global Health Community of Practice (CoP) where they continue their learning journey as ACES alumni. To find out more about the Clean Cooling Network’s work on maintaining vaccine integrity through the deployment of sustainable cold-chains, and an opportunity to visit Zipline, join us in Kigali on 17th – 19th November for our Vaccine Symposium.