Riders for Health

Riders launch new programme in Lesotho

31 January 2008

Riders for Health launched its new country programme in Lesotho which will help to combat HIV/AIDS and TB on Saturday 19th January.

Working with the government and other development organisations Riders will manage 120 bikes, to be rolled out in two batches of 60. The programme will initially be funded by the Elton John Aids Foundation.

Riders will work with:

• The Ministry of Health in Lesotho
• Elton John Aids Foundation
• Partners in Health
• The Clinton Foundation AIDS Initiative

Having previously worked in Lesotho in the early 1990s, Riders’ return to the country was prompted by the rapid and alarming decline of the country's public health status following the growth of HIV/AIDS and associated TB.

Riders will work with the ministry of health, Partners in Health and the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative to mobilise out-reach and frontline health workers. We will use our experience of using motorcycles to reach the country’s isolated highlands – which are not accessible by any other motorized means – to enable our partners to deliver regular health care.

The programme will also be appropriate for the lowland areas, where it is just as urgently needed. The partner organisations will select key health care personnel to be mobilised. Riders will provide training in motorcycle riding and basic maintenance, and will manage all the vehicles within its preventive maintenance system – so they will never break down.

Riders’ operations director, Mohale Moshoeshoe, is originally from Lesotho and said: ‘I am very happy that we have been able to return to Lesotho and start working here again. Our work really will make a huge difference to the people here. Thanks to Riders motorcycles really will be saving lives in Lesotho. It is only thanks to the support of the motorcycling community that our work is able to attract the attention and backing of groups like the Elton John Aids Foundation. Our life saving work across Africa is only possible because of your support. Thank you.’

The reliable mobility provided by Riders will ensure that Anti-Retroviral drugs and health education can be regularly and reliably delivered to all. Home-based care for TB patients will become feasible – stopping the spread of drug-resistant TB to HIV/AIDS patients and the wider community.

Training is already underway for the first set of health workers and all 120 bikes will be in the field by the end of February. To find out more about how the training is going, click here.