TY - GEN
T1 - Revolutionizing Disaster Management
T2 - 20th World Congress on Medical and Health Informatics, MEDINFO 2025
AU - El-Sakka, Aya
AU - Osman, Arab
AU - Househ, Mowafa
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Authors.
PY - 2025/8/7
Y1 - 2025/8/7
N2 - Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are transforming humanitarian operations by providing solutions for disaster relief, medical logistics, and aid delivery in challenging environments. This scoping review explores UAV applications in humanitarian contexts, emphasizing their advantages, limitations, and barriers to adoption. A systematic search of Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed, and IEEE identified 1,075 records, with 20 studies selected after screening. The analysis highlights UAVs’ effectiveness in emergency response, logistics, and post-disaster monitoring. UAVs have reduced delivery times for life-saving supplies and provided real-time data for decision-making during crises. Most studies (n=16, 80%) focus on natural disasters, with additional applications in conflict zones, forest fires, and health crises. Key benefits include flexibility, cost efficiency, and rapid response capabilities. Sustainability is a growing advantage. However, adoption faces challenges. Technological constraints, such as limited battery life and payload capacity, are compounded by organizational issues like insufficient skilled operators and coordination gaps. Regulatory barriers and ethical concerns hinder use, particularly privacy and community acceptance. This review calls for harmonized regulations, targeted investments, and stronger collaboration to enhance UAVs’ role in disaster management and humanitarian logistics.
AB - Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are transforming humanitarian operations by providing solutions for disaster relief, medical logistics, and aid delivery in challenging environments. This scoping review explores UAV applications in humanitarian contexts, emphasizing their advantages, limitations, and barriers to adoption. A systematic search of Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed, and IEEE identified 1,075 records, with 20 studies selected after screening. The analysis highlights UAVs’ effectiveness in emergency response, logistics, and post-disaster monitoring. UAVs have reduced delivery times for life-saving supplies and provided real-time data for decision-making during crises. Most studies (n=16, 80%) focus on natural disasters, with additional applications in conflict zones, forest fires, and health crises. Key benefits include flexibility, cost efficiency, and rapid response capabilities. Sustainability is a growing advantage. However, adoption faces challenges. Technological constraints, such as limited battery life and payload capacity, are compounded by organizational issues like insufficient skilled operators and coordination gaps. Regulatory barriers and ethical concerns hinder use, particularly privacy and community acceptance. This review calls for harmonized regulations, targeted investments, and stronger collaboration to enhance UAVs’ role in disaster management and humanitarian logistics.
KW - Crisis response
KW - Disaster management
KW - Disaster response
KW - Drones
KW - Humanitarian logistics
KW - Informatics
KW - Medical aid delivery
KW - Regulatory barriers
KW - Scoping review
KW - Technological challenges
KW - UAVs
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105013208915
U2 - 10.3233/SHTI251092
DO - 10.3233/SHTI251092
M3 - Conference contribution
C2 - 40776110
AN - SCOPUS:105013208915
VL - 329
T3 - Studies In Health Technology And Informatics
SP - 1515
EP - 1519
BT - Medinfo 2025 - Healthcare Smart * Medicine Deep
A2 - Househ, MS
A2 - Tariq, ZUA
A2 - Al-Zubaidi, M
A2 - Shah, U
A2 - Huesing, E
PB - IOS Press BV
Y2 - 9 August 2025 through 13 August 2025
ER -