Project Summary
Local welders have been trained to produce ambulance trailers, which are towed behind a bicycle, for use in rural communities in Malawi and Zambia. They are owned, operated and maintained by the community and provide a cheap and simple way of transporting people to clinics or hospitals for treatment.
The Problem
The project was designed to serve people in isolated areas who have very poor access to health services, little or no communication with social ministries and are have little or no support from NGOs and government. Seriously ill people in these communities face huge problems in accessing treatment at a clinic or hospital – their only option might be to hire an oxcart, which many cannot afford.
The Process
The first step was identifying the villages in need of this simple, low-cost form of emergency transport. Local makers were supported to build the ambulance trailers, along with small goods carrying trailers that could be used for local hire, to generate an income and pay for the scheme’s running and maintenance costs. We also worked with the village health committees and home based care committees to manage the use of the trailers as a community resource.
Partners
Green Gardens of Malawi, Mchinji District Assembly, Mwami Hospital, Health Village Committees and Home Based Care groups.
The Results
Eleven local welders have been trained and have produced 5 bicycles and 8 bicycle trailers which were distributed to four rural communities in Mchinji and Salima Districts in Malawi and Mwami in Zambia. Community meetings have been held, where the general public and traditional and political leaders were made aware of the project objectives and activities. Two committee members from each of the project sites have been trained on basic record keeping and management of the scheme.
The Impact
Interviews with those involved in the project, including village leaders, users of the bicycle ambulance and trailers, community based Health Surveillance Assistants and the local makers, revealed that the bicycle ambulance is viewed extremely positively because people’s lives had been saved, pregnant women had been helped to deliver their babies safely and the scheme is cheap enough for people to use. Across the four sites, it had been used between 3 and 12 times, carrying patients with conditions including malaria, complications in pregnancy, pneumonia an average of 12km for treatment. All of the patients survived.
“All lady volunteers here are using this bicycle ambulance carrying our clients who are HIV & AIDS patients to the hospital from their homes.”
A female volunteer at Kochiliara Hospital
See also:
• Zambia, Bicycle Ambulance Project, Sept. 2008 – Mar. 2009
