US Funds 'Delivery Drones' for Africa, Not Water Filters
The U.S. State Department is funding delivery drones from a company called Zipline for African nations, couched as a 'new aid strategy.' This comes as headlines globally still debate basic access to water, food, and medicine in developing regions. Historically, 'aid' has often served to create dependencies or open markets for American corporations. While drones might deliver medical supplies
(eventually), one could observe the U.S. is prioritizing advanced tech solutions over, say, direct investment in sustainable agriculture or clean water infrastructure – projects that don’t quite carry the same patent-protected, profit-generating potential for U.S. companies. How many villages in Africa lack clean drinking water versus needing drone-delivered aspirin from a foreign corporation?