Who we work with in Africa
In order to make a real difference to rural communities in Africa, Riders for Health has to work in partnership with health agencies; managing their transport so that basic health services reach the people who need them.
Our service is crucial to the work of any health-related organisation that serves rural villages. Without running vehicles to cover the long distances, health care, drugs and health education cannot be reached by the most isolated and vulnerable.
‘Most of these disadvantaged children live off unbelievably bad roads. Riders enables us to get to these communities’. Director, Farm Orphan Support Trust, Zimbabwe.
Working with the government
Reaching an entire nation of people with regular health care requires a huge number of vehicles – from motorcycles to ambulances and out-reach trekking vehicles – all of which need to function across long distances, where even the best roads may be no more than a dirt track.
For this to happen, governments must make effective transport systems a priority. Predictable transportation means that ministries of health can plan their work effectively, manage finances and budgets, and set and achieve targets.
That is why Riders for Health works with African governments to manage their vehicle fleets, enabling them to focus on providing healthcare to thousands of men, women and children.
Riders’ first national programme was in Lesotho in 1991. From there we extended our work to Zimbabwe in 1996 where we mobilise outreach health workers for the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare. In 2002, the Gambian Ministry of Health signed a historic agreement giving Riders the task of managing its full fleet of vehicles.
In 2009, we developed our partnership with the Gambia further implementing a Transport Asset Management (TAM) model. Riders now owns all of the vehicles in use and leases them back to the ministry. This allows us to have complete responsibility in the management of the fleet; from obtaining suitable vehicles to choosing when to replace them at a time that is safe and cost-effective. This means that Riders for Health can ensure that the entire population of the Gambia is covered with reliable health care delivery.
When health workers are mobilised, they no longer have to walk huge distances to reach villages. They are able to reach many more communities, spend longer with patients, and visit them more regularly. Having a regular presence allows health workers to tackle sensitive issues like HIV/AIDS, and, without the strain of walking for miles each day, they become healthier too. 
Local partnerships
As well as governments, there are thousands of local community-based organisations (CBOs) who are helping to deliver vital health services to people at a rural level. Grassroots programmes have an immediate impact on surrounding communities, and can reach even more people with reliable transport.
Riders is working with CBO’s across Africa to help them reach up to five times as many people as before. We provide training for health workers in safe riding and basic maintenance skills so that they can keep their vehicles running day after day.
In Kenya, we are partnered with nine CBO’s covering issues from HIV/AIDS, to orphaned and vulnerable children, to alcoholism. For instance, Vumilia is a women’s group based in the Kabras district, Western Kenya. They are working to overcome HIV/AIDS in their community using six outreach motorcycles donated by Riders for Health.
When health worker Rosemary Mani first visited Caleb he was bed-ridden and weighed just 40 kilograms. Caleb, his wife and one year old baby were all HIV positive. Thanks to her motorcycle, Rosemary visits the family three times a week to help them take their anti-retroviral treatment.
‘When Rosemary visits me I feel encouraged,’ said Caleb. ‘I don’t know how to thank Rosemary for all her help.’
To find out more about locally-based community groups we work with, click here.