Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI)

Programs

Bambulance Project – Kenya

last updated Sep 27, 2011

Overview

Implementing organization: 
Design For Development Society
Implementation Partner(s): 
Women's Empowerment Equality Project (WEEP) and The Community Transformers.
Legal Status: 
Private (not-for-profit)
Year Launched: 
2008
Stage: 
Pilot/startup stage
Income Level of Target Population: 
Bottom 20%

Funding

Primary Source of Funding: 
Donor
Additional Source(s) of Funding: 
Donor
Funders: 
Design For Development Society

Scale

Number of Clients Served: 
Innitially produce 5 bamboo ambulances.
Other Measures of Scale: 
During project implementation, DFD will provide training to local tradespeople in the manufacture of resulting designs as well as in basic design and marketing skills.
Summary: 

Bambulance is developing a medical device which aids in the transportation of people in rural sub-Saharan Africa to hospital or clinic. The Bicycle Ambulance is a humanitarian project that responds to the problem of rural isolation during a medical emergency combining common forms of transportation in Africa like the bicycle with a means of safely and comfortably transporting people who are sick or injured.

Program goals/rationale: 

This project is creating an affordable and sustainable means of health and emergency transport for rural communities in Kenya. It has designed a means of transporting people in rural Kenya to hospital or clinic which will function primarily as an Emergency Medical Transportation Device (EMTD) by improving the comfort, safety and stability of patient transport. This will be achieved by utilizing familiar and available regional modes of transportation like the bicycle, donkey, foot travel.

They will utilize local materials and processes, such as bamboo, as the primary structural material.

Key program components: 

In order to accomplish this goal the project is designing a bamboo EMTD prototype that is responsive to local needs. The project has also established a small manufacturing facility for the production of the EMTDs in western Kenya. In addition they will teach local residents to manufacture the products by providing technical training and skills to manufacture and distribute an initial run of 5 bamboo EMTDs. They will also provide community-based training in the management and maintenance of the ambulance fleet and establish a system of community-based project monitoring and evaluation.

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