Broadcasting
Zipline’s Instant Delivery, A Game-Changer in Medical Supply Chain
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), nearly two billion people across the world lack reliable access to quality essential medical products such as blood and vaccines due to gaps in supply chains and poor infrastructure.
A functioning supply chain complete with procurement, appropriate warehousing, and end-to-end transportation, is critical to making sure that people have access to essential, quality medicine. Increasingly, drones or “unmanned aerial vehicles” (UAV) are being used to fill in key supply chain gaps, providing much-needed access to access to to medicine, medical supplies and vaccines.
By storing medicine, blood and other critical medical supplies and delivering them directly to health facilities, Zipline is helping the government of Ghana reduce wasted medication resulting from overstocking and expiration. Because health facilities can order on-demand, as needed, they no longer have to request large quantities of medicine from their national medical stores to make sure they have them in stock, ultimately resulting in over-ordering and expiration.
A District Director of Health in Ghana, Charles Kofi Azagba, recently said that “before the introduction of Zipline, [they] have been going through a lot of difficulties in getting medical and non-medical supplies to the various health facilities. However, with the coming of Zipline, [they] rarely run out of stock or even when [they] do, Zipline swiftly responds to them in less than 30-minutes”.
Recently Nigeria became the third African country to use Zipline’s drone delivery system, following national-scale operations in Ghana and Rwanda, with operations in Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire set to be launched later this year. Kaduna State, Nigeria has begun to procure medical commodities – vaccines, medicines, and blood – through the government supply chain and distribute them via the newly established Zipline distribution centre located at Pambegua. With Zipline’s autonomous drone delivery service, health facilities can receive products within 45 minutes or less, rather than several days when using traditional, complex procurement systems.
Nigeria and other developing countries often lack adequate supply, correct doses and affordable medication at their health centres. In some cases, health ministries set up semi-autonomous entities such as a National Level Medical Store and Regional Medical Stores, to purchase, store and distribute medicine and medical supplies to health centres, hospitals and dispensaries across the country.
Within the rural settings already burdened with poverty, high disease, and lack of adequate resources to deliver quality healthcare to the population, drug shortages and an inadequate number and skill-mix of healthcare providers are very common in rural health facilities.
Zipline’s technology has proved to be a valuable tool in assisting governments in achieving access to universal healthcare and will help the government of Kaduna in achieving this goal. A Zipline hub can send medical supplies to more than 500 health facilities within an 80km radius flying at about 110km/hour. Within the first week of operation in Kaduna state, the company delivered over a thousand medical items to several health facilities.
Kaduna is just the beginning of the government’s’ partnership with Zipline. They have already announced partnerships with the Cross River and Bayelsa states, with an aim to begin operations before the end of 2022, serving thousands of health facilities across Nigeria.
Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) has announced the postponement of its maiden annual Public Relations, Reputation, Ideas, Concepts and Excellence (PRICE) Awards and Prizes to January 25, 2026.
NIPR
The event, earlier scheduled for December 7, 2025, was deferred to accommodate stakeholders whose observance of Christmas festivities had commenced earlier than expected.
Chairman of the Organising Committee, Mr. Israel Opayemi, urged stakeholders to note the new date and prepare to participate in the ceremony.
He said the awards would motivate professionals, practitioners and scholars, while enhancing Nigeria’s global competitiveness in the public relations ecosystem and strengthening brand equity for all stakeholders.
Opayemi reaffirmed the Committee’s commitment to delivering a best-in-class award administration and ceremony, describing the PRICE Awards as a credible and enduring platform to identify, celebrate and elevate outstanding individuals, campaigns and organisations shaping the public relations landscape across sectors.
The development of the PRICE Awards peaked in September 2025 when the NIPR President and Chairman, Council, Dr. Ike Neliaku, inaugurated a 12-man committee to organise the maiden edition. The inauguration followed the Council’s adoption of the report of a technical team tasked with establishing the awards.
Netflix has announced a landmark agreement to acquire Warner Bros. and HBO Max in a transaction valued at $82.7 billion, a move analysts say will reshape the global entertainment industry.
Netflix
The deal, which includes Warner Bros.’ film and television studios, HBO, HBO Max, and Warner Bros. Games, was unanimously approved by the boards of both companies. Under the terms, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) shareholders will receive $23.25 in cash and $4.50 in Netflix shares for each WBD share.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos described the acquisition as “a defining moment” for the streaming giant, noting that the company intends to maintain Warner Bros.’ current operations while expanding its production capacity.
“By combining Warner Bros.’ incredible library of shows and movies with Netflix’s culture-defining titles, we can give audiences more of what they love and help define the next century of storytelling,” Sarandos said.
The transaction is expected to close within 12 to 18 months, following the planned spin-off of WBD’s TV networks division, Discovery Global, in 2026. Netflix projects annual cost savings of $2–3 billion by the third year after completion and expects the deal to be accretive to earnings per share by year two.
Industry groups, including the Directors Guild of America and Cinema United, have raised concerns about the impact on movie theaters, while regulators are expected to scrutinize the deal over antitrust issues. Netflix has pledged to continue supporting theatrical releases, with Warner Bros.’ cinema commitments running through 2029.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav hailed the agreement, saying it “combines two of the greatest storytelling companies in the world to bring to even more people the entertainment they love.”
Observers note that the acquisition comes 15 years after former Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes dismissed Netflix as “the Albanian army,” underscoring the dramatic shift in the entertainment landscape.
A major shake‑up rocks viewers and subscribers of DSTV/GOTV as many channels are set to shut down and be removed on January 1, 2026.
The trigger for the upcoming shut‑down is a breakdown in negotiations between the owners of multiple global channels and the pay‑TV operator.
As of December 2025, the deal between Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and DStv/GOtv has expired and the two parties have not reached a renewal agreement.
Without a new carriage/distribution agreement, the channels belonging to WBD risk being pulled off the DStv/GOtv line‑up.
This is the most significant content cutback the service has seen in years.
The affected channels are:
Discovery Channel
TLC
Cartoonito
Cartoon Network
CNN International
Food Network
The Travel Channel
TNT
Investigation Discovery
Real Time
HGTV
Discovery Family
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