Motorcycles Saving Lives
Posted by Adam Hanson on April 17th 2008 in Organizations
Barbara Nyati talks to a nurse in Binga.When Barry and Andrea Coleman, along with motorcycle racer Randy Mamola, began visiting Africa and raising money for medical aid in that region, they were surprised to discover roadsides littered with ambulances and medical supply vehicles broken down and abandoned. With almost no system to maintain motor vehicles, cars and motorcycles vital to aid organizations break down within a year of driving hazardous African roads. The Riders for Health organization was established to provide reliable sustainable transportation for medical aid in some of the most remote regions of Africa. Riders currently operates in the Gambia, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. In these countries, one health worker can be responsible for up to 20,000 people in villages as much 20 miles apart. It is impossible for workers to distribute vaccines and other medicines to such a large population without motorcycles or other functioning vehicles. For over a decade, Riders for Health has trained locals to ride and maintain medical transport motorcycles and other vehicles, provided organizations with a system to budget for repairs and upkeep, and built up the transportation infrastructure in Africa to make replacement parts more available.
Broken amulances in the gambia.
Riders now manages 1,274 vehicles, helping aid workers reach almost 11 million people who would have otherwise had little or no access to modern medicine. Motorcycle riders who have been trained by Riders for Health can now reach villages that are inaccessible by car and so were previously plagued by treatable diseases like measles, diarrhea and malaria. These health workers can visit remote villages on a weekly basis for years on a vehicle that is properly maintained. “The thing that surprised me was how quickly the situation can be turned around, but only if you have the resources. In Zimbabwe, for instance, we have shown what a difference having reliable vehicles can make. In the Binga district, in the northwest of the country, malaria deaths fell by 21% in one year after Riders mobilized all the health workers there so that they could reach all their communities regularly,” explains Andrea Coleman, Riders CEO. By creating a plan to improve and maintain transportation in Africa, this organization fills a gap that allows humanitarian organizations to reach a greater population and save money by maintaining vehicles instead of having to replace them. “Transport is the most vital, yet neglected element of development,” says Coleman. “In the developed world people take reliable vehicles for granted, and no one thinks about what happens when they aren’t there. This attitude affects all areas of development. No one in the development community, except Riders, has ever focused the basic, fundamental, and blindingly obvious need for reliable transport in the developing world.”
Health worker rides toward village.
Riders for Health is the official charity of motorcycle racing. Every year, MotoGP organizes an event called the “Day Of Champions” to raise money for Riders For Health and provide more motorcycles in rural Africa, where they can mean the difference between life and death.
Riders for Health
3 New Street,
Daventry,
Northamptonshire,
NN11 4BT.
United Kingdom
