2006 Health Award Laureate
Riders for Health
| Laureate Country: United Kingdom |
| Project Countries: Gambia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe |
| Website: www.riders.org |
| Video: 2006Videos/riders for health.mov |
Project Overview:
Riders for Health devises, implements, and manages a transportation infrastructure of vehicles and technologies needed for medical transportation in the continent of Africa. Riders for Health trains professional health workers and other outreach operatives in safe driving skills and daily maintenance procedures. The training connects medical staff to needy patients who otherwise can not access hospitals for medical care due to the distance.
Problem Addressed:
Despite a plethora of breakthrough technology in medicine, people on the continent of Africa continue to die in epidemic proportions. One in fourteen women die in childbirth, the average life expectancy is less than 40 years, and millions of children die before the age of five. Though there is no single obstacle to solving this situation, one issue stands out; mobility—the ability to reach people in rural communities. This is the most neglected yet critical issue in the development arena as health care is simply inaccessible to patients. To add to the tragedy, vehicles are all around, but most of these vehicles are unusable simply because they lack maintenance.
Technology Solution:
The basis for Riders for Health's solution is not new – it utilizes internal combustion vehicles. The difference, however, is their Transport Resource Management (TRM) system, which is an elaborate infrastructure that utilizes satellite to manage a nation-wide fleet of vehicles, running on a predictable and cost-effective basis. Starting with 37 vehicles in Lesotho, Rider's TRM system now operates three national programs in the Gambia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe. Today, over 1,200 vehicles are managed under their system; 900 nurses are mobilized, diagnosing and treating 261% more cases of diarrhea, 75% more cases of acute respiratory infection and 55% more cases of malaria; and in the Gambia, 73% of infants are now fully immunized. All of this is a result of the Riders for Health transportation infrastructure, which has reached 10.8 million people across rural Africa, delivering health care to those who would be unable to access it otherwise.
