The Kambia Appeal has two transport projects:

1. Motorbike Ambulances

With the help of the eRanger Production Company (winner of the World Aware Award for Technology for Development in 1999 and the 2006 Pan African Health Award), The Kambia Appeal is improving access to healthcare for two communities in Kambia by running a small network of motorbike ambulances that provides low-cost transportation for people to travel from their homes in remote rural areas to their nearest health centres.

Currently six ambulances run between 47 villages, two health centres and the main district hospital, and serve a total population of 22,152 people. This population was identified by the Kambia District Medical Officer as being one of the most vulnerable due to severe levels of poverty and lack of organised public transport.

The motorbike ambulances are based at two health centres, Barmoi Munu and Maselleh, and although the ambulances are available for all emergency cases, the main aim of the project is to help pregnant women gain access to maternal healthcare. Typically, women in the project catchment area have to walk between five and twelve miles to reach their nearest health centre. Public transport is limited, and if private taxis are available the cost of an emergency journey is often highly inflated beyond the means of most families. Understandably, women suffering obstructed labour, pre-eclampsia and haemorrhage are not able to make the arduous journey on foot and so are forced to stay at home without medical attention. Without adequate transportation to reach the health centre, such women and their babies are likely to die or suffer permanent injury or ill health, and their deaths very often go unrecorded.

Motorbike ambulance driven by Isatu, the MCHA at Masselleh Health Centre

The motorbike ambulances are helping to increase the number of deliveries managed by qualified midwives in safe and sterile environments, and, in emergency cases, increase the number of women receiving obstetric care (caesarean sections) at the district hospital. Such outcomes will contribute to lowering the maternal and child mortality rate in the region.

The motorbike ambulances have been donated to the Appeal by the eRanger Production Company. eRanger’s innovative vehicle design combines the benefits of a motorcycle with the cargo capacity of a sidecar, in a package that is cost effective, rugged and simple to maintain. The vehicles have proven to be extremely durable, reliable and fuel efficient and are already making a positive impact for health projects in Malawi, South Africa, Afghanistan and Sudan. The motorbikes and sidecars are easier and cheaper to run and maintain than typical 4×4 Land Rover style ambulances, and can reach more remote areas where roads and tracks are often narrow or in poor condition. The motorbike ambulances provide an innovative, cost-effective solution to the problem of emergency transport in remote areas.

We also supplied each village in the area with a sturdy bicycle so that when an ambulance is required someone in the village can cycle to the health centre to raise the alarm.  We are very grateful to UK charity Re-cycle for its donation of 50 ex Royal Mail bikes for us to use in Kambia.

In order to encourage the local communities to use the motorbike ambulances, a thirty minute publicity film was commissioned by The Appeal to be toured and screened in all the villages in the catchment area. The film dramatises three medical scenarios in which people could benefit from transportation to the nearest health centre.  The film has now been toured twice throughout the two communities and has been watched by over 17,000 people. Currently, the ambulances are being used on average 16 times each month. It costs us about £650 a year to run and maintain each of the motorbike ambulances.

Watch the Call Di Lifesaver education film and see the ambulances in action.

Read the 2009 Evaluation Report for the motorbike ambulance project.

2. Maternity Bus Service

Starting in Autumn 2009, The Kambia Appeal’s new Land Rover will be run as a maternity bus once a week to collect high-risk pregnant women from the health centres at Barmoi Munu and Maselleh and take them to the main hospital in Kambia Town.  This project will provide a vital transport link, enabling the poorest women in the area to reach the hospital before life-threatening medical problems arise.  Once at the hospital the mothers will be able to stay at The Kambia Appeal’s maternity waiting house where they will be accommodated for a few weeks prior to delivery.

The new Land Rover outside Cheltenham General Hospital.

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