Ethiopia · Healthcare · humanitarian logistics
Tracking WHO ambulances across Ethiopia's remotest regions
WHO Ethiopia needed route adherence and driver behaviour visibility for the ambulance fleet delivering medical aid to remote regions. Existing market products could not meet the requirement; a local system integrator brought in Embarc.
- Hundreds
- Vehicles on one platform
- Web + iOS + Android
- Operator access
- 2014
- Reference document
About World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is the United Nations agency responsible for international public health, headquartered in Geneva with six regional offices and around 150 field offices worldwide. WHO Ethiopia provides medical aid to the remotest regions of the country.
Original documentCase study issued 08 May 2014.
Business challenge
- Ambulances operating far outside reliable network coverage still had to be accounted for.
- WHO needed confirmation that vehicles followed prescribed routes and that drivers drove properly.
- Products available in the market at the time did not meet the requirement, so a local system integrator approached Embarc.
What we delivered
- Find'n'Secure was deployed as the tracking and fleet management platform for the ambulance fleet.
- A web interface that WHO staff could operate directly, without integrator involvement for day-to-day work.
- Android and iOS applications for field and supervisory users.
Architecture
- Multi-tenant server platform capable of carrying hundreds of vehicles on one instance.
- Device-agnostic ingestion: GPS trackers report over GSM data with store-and-forward buffering, so positions recorded out of coverage are transmitted when the link returns.
- Route, geofence and driver-behaviour rules evaluated server-side, with alerts raised against the same models the console reads.
Implementation
- Delivered with a local system integrator responsible for installation and first-line support.
- Software demonstration plus Embarc technical support during evaluation helped the integrator win the WHO contract.
- Platform configured to WHO's specific operating requirements rather than shipped as a fixed product.
Results
- Route adherence and driver behaviour became reviewable rather than anecdotal.
- Every requirement raised by WHO was implemented on the platform.
- Web and mobile access gave field and office users the same operational picture.