Bridging Distances: Healthcare & Transport

In many developing countries, transport is one of the main barriers that the poor face when trying to access healthcare. Often distances to facilities are long and transportation systems are inadequate or unaffordable.

The role of transport is essential to:

• Delivering health services to remote communities
• Getting patients to clinics who are too sick to travel
• Reaching vulnerable populations for health education and outreach
• Supplying drugs and vaccines

ITDP works with health workers to improve patient access to care by developing appropriate vehicle and telecommunications strategies for providing care in remote areas. In 2002, we began the Access Africa Program to promote accessibility to education, employment and healthcare for low income communities in Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania. Since bicycling is on average three times faster than walking, and significantly less costly than motorcycles and cars, bicycles offer a low-cost, efficient, and sustainable way to increase the ability of healthcare providers to reach their patients.

ITDP distributed bicycles free of charge to an array of health care organizations in South Africa, Ghana, Senegal, and Kenya, and studied the impact the bikes had on healthcare provision. At the Worcester Hospice in South Africa, which provides nursing care to the terminally ill, workers on bicycles were able to cover three times the distance they did on foot, reaching 15 more patients each day.