hopebuilding

Bicycle ambulance provides practical health care transportation in Africa

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"BEN Namibia's bicycle ambulance project began when we found that healthcare volunteers who had received bicycles through our projects were using the luggage racks to transport clients to hospitals and clinics. We had heard about the work of FABIO in manufacturing and distributing bicycle ambulances in Uganda, and thought that there was potential to apply the idea in Namibia.

The first prototype, a basic stretcher towed behind a bicycle, was demonstrated to HIV/AIDS home based care volunteers in Oshakati in 2005, who provided advice and encouragement. In 2006, Yelula-Ukai funded a prototyping phase that enabled us to develop a design appropriate for Namibian conditions. The finished design features a robust steel frame, seat-post attachment system made from off-the-shelf nuts and bolts, pulling handle for crossing thick sand and stand-alone use, a removable stretcher with adjustable backrest, carry bag for basic medical supplies, sun shade and standard mountain bike wheels.

BEN Namibia partners with community based organisations throughout the country to deliver each bicycle ambulance. Healthcare volunteers receive training in use, maintenance and reporting on the performance of the ambulance. A participatory management session also helps partners address issues like storage, access and covering costs of maintenance.

Each time the ambulance makes a trip, a log book entry is made with trip details. A copy of the log book is sent to BEN Namibia periodically, helping us to understand how it is being used. Bicycle ambulances have been used to transport people for conditions ranging from HIV/AIDS-related illness to scorpion bites, and seem to be most used where they are located within 10km of a health facility, and where tracks are not too sandy.

The bicycle ambulance is not intended to replace motorised ambulances, but to fill a gap where no services are provided. Indeed, for most of Namibia, there is no public emergency ambulance system, and people often die because they can not afford to pay for private transport. Until Government is able to develop adequate policies and procedures on emergency medical transport, it seems that bicycle ambulances will have a role to play.

To date support from Bank Windhoek, the Australian High Commission in South Africa, and a partnership between The Rotary Clubs of ChinaTown Vancouver, Port Moody, Windhoek, Rotary International and Design for Development in Canada and individual donations has funded over 70 bicycle ambulances up until April 2008. We welcome further support for the project."

This story comes from the BEN Namibia website. BEN (Bicycling Empowerment Network) Namibia is a non profit organisation established in 2005 in Windhoek to empower disadvantaged Namibians through provision of sustainable transport and bicycle-related income generation opportunities. From a small NGO that distributed three bicycles in its first month, BEN Namibia has grown rapidly into an organization that has implemented five community based bicycle shops, developed a bicycle ambulance for emergency medical transport and delivered 50 throughout the country, conducted research into the impact of transport on access to treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS, trained over 100 people in bicycle mechanics, directly created jobs for 30 people and helped over 4,000 disadvantaged Namibians, many of them HIV/AIDS home based care volunteers, to gain access to affordable transport in the form of bicycles. BEN Namibia got help from Design for Development founder Niki Dunn, a Canadian, who is now working on a project called the Bambulance in Kenya; and from Jessica Vechakul's Zambulance design in Zambia. Aaron Wieler led the development of BEN Namibia's bicycle ambulance.

Bicycle ambulances also have been created in Jinja, Uganda, in Malawi, and in Nepal.

For other stories about bicycles, see:

Linking bike donors and kids in war-ravaged areas

Reconditioned US bicycles provide transportation in the developing world

For other stories about practical health care solutions in Africa, see:

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Benin is an ongoing success story in eliminating endemic river blindness

Coping with the grief and loss of AIDS: memory projects bring hope to Africa

Ending slum deadlock to bring health to Mali slums

Grassroots public health initiatives eliminate dreaded guinea worm disease

Innovative South Africa pill reminder idea spreads globally

Motorbike ambulances save lives of mothers, babies, in remote areas of Africa