Riders for Health introduces motorbikes for health workers in Lesotho

2008-04-11

Working with the government and other development organisations Riders will manage 120 bikes, to be rolled out in two batches of 60. The programme is initially 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 is working with the ministry of health, Partners in Health and the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative to mobilise out-reach and frontline health workers. Riders is using its experience of introducing motorcycles to reach the country’s isolated highlands – which are not accessible by any other motorised means – to enable its 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.

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.

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