These Guidelines, compiled by UK development organisation Transaid with funding from Medicines for Malaria Venture, provide practical guidance on: the selection of intervention sites; designing and delivering rectal artesunate (RAS) training for Community Health Workers (CHWs); designing community engagement and mobilisation activities to support RAS implementation; designing severe malaria training for front-line health workers; establishing patient transport systems to support rapid referral; addressing household and community barriers and delays to uptake of RAS; designing an effective supportive supervision system for RAS CHWs; monitoring and evaluating RAS implementation at community level; and planning and budgeting for a RAS intervention.
The main audience for the guidelines is Ministry of Health staff, particularly staff of national malaria programmes, programme staff responsible for child health and integrated community case management (iCCM), and provincial and district health teams. The guidelines can also be used by development partners who are working in partnership with Ministries of Health to support the implementation of RAS at community level.
Hosted jointly by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the Transport and Referral Community of Practice this webinar looked at implementing emergency transport solutions in Nigeria and Uganda, to reduce the time taken to accessing maternal healthcare, and increase affordability to influence improved health outcomes.
An impact brief detailing strengthening patient transport systems in sub-Saharan Africa with a focus on three countries where Transaid has worked on patient transport systems – Madagascar, Nigeria and Uganda.
An impact brief detailing the “MAM@Scale” project that sought to support the scale-up of an evidence-based intervention that aimed at increasing access of hard-to-reach communities to effective treatment for severe malaria in high malaria burden settings.
In September 2024 Transaid commenced a 6-month project to strengthen access to essential health and road safety messaging at the Mombasa port enclave in Kenya, specifically focusing on commercial drivers. In partnership with North Star Alliance, the project aims to promote access and engagement with free and established health services where drivers gather to rest along the Northern Corridor, with the aim of reducing perceived barriers to quality health services in local clinics. As part of these awareness raising activities, two factsheets were developed – one promoting HIV/AIDS testing, treatment and counselling available at North Star Alliance wellness centres, and another which featured a cargo security checklist for long distance drivers, and was developed in partnership with the Kenya Transporters Association (KTA). The factsheets along with spoken sensitisation are given to drivers in either Swahili or English during outreach sessions and toolbox talks.
As Transaid continues to implement a project to establish a National Helmet Wearing Coalition in Kenya, funded by global road safety philanthropy the FIA Foundation, one thing that has become clear is the complexity of the determining factors linked to motorcycle safety.
The National Helmet Wearing Coalition currently comprises representatives from 17 different organisations including government, civil society, academia, private sector and rider associations. The Coalition has identified the urgent need for stronger enforcement to save lives on Kenya’s roads, and plans to support this objective in a number of ways.
The collective voice that a coalition of organisations and agencies offers is definitely a strength when it comes to instigating positive change, as is the pool of expertise that member organisations from various sectors bring to this particular Coalition. Indeed, there are challenges, not least building relationships and understanding the dynamics between members, but this approach is vital particularly where complex issues such as those influencing motorcycle rider safety are concerned.
Click below to read the full article.
This paper draws on ethnographic research conducted 2019–2022 in three quite diverse city regions – Abuja, Cape Town and Tunis – to understand women’s lived experiences of work in the road transport sector. The strength of connection between male identity and motor-mobility in Africa is ubiquitous and has rarely been questioned by transport sector actors. Women are still largely absent from the story, constrained at least partly by hegemonic norms of femininity and an ‘affective atmosphere’ that deters female entry. However, there are occasional cases across Africa where women have dared to disrupt this masculinist enterprise, either as employees or entrepreneurs.
This study explores and compares women transport workers’ everyday experiences, drawing principally on in-depth interviews with those in customer-facing roles (taxi and bus drivers, bus conductors). Relevant public sector organisations and major transport employers were also consulted, while focus groups with community groups of men and women explored their attitudes to women employed as transport workers, and with school-girls investigated their career aspirations and views regarding employment in the sector. A final section looks to the future, post-COVID-19. Although new opportunities occasionally emerge for women, they need much more support, not only in terms of skills training, but also through flexible working opportunities, union recognition and action, microfinance and financial management training. This support is essential in order to expand the visibility of women transport workers and thus make the wider transport milieu less overwhelmingly male and more welcoming to women transport users.
Since Zambia recorded its first confirmed COVID-19 case in March 2020, the transport and logistics industry has been under increasing pressure to maintain supply chains of essential goods and medicines across the country. Regional travel restrictions and border testing regimes, introduced to slow the spread of the virus, have disrupted the movement of health commodity cargo, leaving land-locked countries such as Zambia particularly vulnerable to commodity shortages and stock outs. There is growing concern that further disruption to vital supply chains would seriously undermine Zambia’s ability to maintain the distribution of essential medicines across the county whilst in parallel mounting a coordinated response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In order to protect key workers, Transaid in partnership with the Industrial Training Centre (ITC), and supported by the Zambia Ministry of Health and UK industry, developed a communicable diseases training manual with a focus on COVID-19 awareness and preparedness. Transaid then conducted a Training of Trainers (ToT) programmes to equip ITC trainers with the skills required to deliver the COVID-19 training, and between September 2020 and February 2022, ITC trainers delivered the training to professional drivers and warehouse colleagues working in Zambia’s central and regional medical stores.
A total 101 health supply chain colleagues received the training and 120 packages of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) were handed out. In addition, 2,158 printed factsheets were distributed and a further ~4,000 professional drivers received digital copies via the WhatsApp messaging platform.
Please click below to download the full technical brief.
This report presents a literature review and annotated bibliography undertaken as part of the research project: An Investigation into the Impact on Social Inclusion of High Volume Traffic (HVT) Corridors, and Potential Solutions to Identifying and Preventing Human Trafficking. The literature review followed the core principles of a systematic literature review process. The review found that very little is known about the relationship between Trafficking in Persons (TIP) and HVT corridors, other major trade routes and border crossings along these routes. It also found that the role of transport sector operators within the human trafficking process is not well understood. This validates the choice of research topic and confirms the need to strengthen the evidence base on these issues.
Click below to download the report.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, many have faced unprecedented challenges around the world. Like many organisations, Transaid has been adapting and finding new ways of working, and making sure that all staff, consultants and volunteers are protected and safe. Consequently, Transaid has been working to introduce new protocols and ways of working for our colleagues in the field.
As part of this, Transaid have been focusing on awareness raising, establishing hand washing stations and topping up the community food banks as part of the preparedness planning in the MAM@Scale intervention sites in Zambia. This also included the development of materials aimed at supporting awareness raising activities, and to ensure that the people on the frontline of project operations, as well as the people they are supporting, are safe and protected at all times.
The stresses and strains of the pandemic have led to an increase of Gender Based Violence (GBV) reported in communities. MAM@Scale COVID-19 Response has therefore begun to incorporate a GBV campaign in its activities.
Click below to view the Gender Based Violence Poster in English and Bemba.
Since the Covid-19 outbreak, many have faced unprecedented challenges around the world. Like many organisations, Transaid has been adapting and finding new ways of working, and making sure that all staff, consultants and volunteers are protected and safe. Consequently, Transaid has been working to introduce new protocols and ways of working for our colleagues in the field.
As part of this, Transaid have been focusing on awareness raising, establishing hand washing stations and topping up the community food banks as part of the preparedness planning in the MAM@Scale intervention sites in Zambia. This also included the development of materials aimed at supporting awareness raising activities, and to ensure that the people on the frontline of project operations, as well as the people they are supporting, are safe and protected at all times.
Please click below to view the updated rectal artesunate (RAS) protocols for Community Health Volunteers (CHVs), in English, Chewa, Senga, and Luvale.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, many have faced unprecedented challenges around the world. Like many organisations, Transaid has been adapting and finding new ways of working, and making sure that all staff, consultants and volunteers are protected and safe. Consequently, Transaid has been working to introduce new protocols and ways of working for our colleagues in the field.
As part of this, Transaid have been focusing on awareness raising, establishing hand washing stations and topping up the community food banks as part of the preparedness planning in the MAM@Scale intervention sites in Zambia. This also included the development of materials aimed at supporting awareness raising activities, and to ensure that the people on the frontline of project operations, as well as the people they are supporting, are safe and protected at all times.
Please click below to see the “Signs, Symptoms and Response” Posters in English, Bemba, Chewa, Senga, and Luvale.