Riders for Health manages motorcycles, ambulances and other four-wheel vehicles used in the delivery of health care in seven countries across Africa.  

We work with ministries of health, international and African non-governmental organisations (NGOs), private-sector organisations, local community-based organisations and religious groups, to improve access to health care for over 21 million people. As a social enterprise, we charge our partners a not-for-profit fee to ensure the sustainability of our programmes. 

At the core of our work is both training and preventive vehicle maintenance. By running reliable vehicle fleets, we ensure that the chain in health care delivery is never broken by failing vehicles thereby increasing health worker productivity. It is also far cheaper to keep a vehicle running efficiently over time than to repair it when it breaks down completely. 

Our programmes provide training and employment opportunities to build local capacity. Our network of highly skilled technicians regularly travels to service vehicles in the communities in which health workers serve. This means they don’t waste valuable time travelling to a garage when they could be with their patients. 

In addition to training health workers to drive safely in the difficult terrain, we also train them to carry out daily checks on their vehicle. 

Why is it important?

The majority of the population of sub-Saharan Africa live in rural areas where the best roads are little more than dirt tracks. Public transport is infrequent and delivering health care on foot or by bicycle between sparse villages is an exhausting and ineffective task. 

Put simply, without reliable transport the millions of pounds that is invested in vaccines, drugs, bed-nets, condoms and trained health professionals every year will be wasted because they will fail to get to where they are needed on time.