Riders for Health focuses on vehicle management for the delivery of healthcare and support the Government in its care of the people of Malawi and to support the incredible work of CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the PI University of Maryland in Baltimore and other healthcare partners. Our network of motorcycle sample transport couriers covers all the nation’s mainland districts. But, as of early September 2020 the nation had reported 5.6 thousand cases of Covid-19 and 175 deaths.
Riders Malawi’s expertise, and the infrastructure we have built over many years to address the needs of HIV AIDs and TB mean that we have been able to pivot quickly to deal with this new threat.
Our nationwide sample transport service proved to be a powerful tool in combating the disease, ensuring coronavirus tests were returned quickly and providing speedy diagnosis that protects communities.
The digital tools that we have developed with our partner CommCare mean that data on the COVID-19 samples we transport is captured and rapidly disseminated.
“We are proud that our reliable transport and diagnostic services network that connects 686 sites with labs, and the accompanying digital services we have developed have once again meant that we have been valuable core partners to the Malawian government in response to Covid-19”
But the problem is not just one of getting care to people. Information and education are a huge part of curbing the spread of a pandemic.
We struggle with the fact that although many in communities are aware of the risks of Covid-19, amongst remote communities in the countryside information is still scarce and many believe that the virus is a hoax.
We have struggled with the additional costs and workload the pandemic brought such as additional visits to communities requiring extra staff time, and the large amounts of protective clothing such as aprons, gloves and respiratory masks needed to protect our staff.
Added to this is the costs of upgrading our sample transport kit such as cooler boxes, ice packs and temperature tracker and scaling up our digital technology to accommodate Covid-19 sample transport requests.
In response to the pandemic Riders Malawi has also developed new and urgently needed services; providing the government with transportation of medical waste for safe disposal and offering transportation for patients to hospital.
This year has put a strain on our services and we desperately need more motorcycles, PPE and IT infrastructure improvements to support our COVID work. We rely on existing and new partners to continue to fund us so we can fight Covid-19 and other dangerous diseases and improve the health of our nation.
If you would like to support the communities in Malawi by working with us please get in touch.
