What is the result?:
The project reported a 258% increase in the number of households visited by the community health workers.
Bike4Care
Approach
Target geography
Target Population
Target income level
- Bottom 20%
Health focus
- Primary care
Summary
Bike4Care improves access to health care by equipping health works with bicycles, and helping clinics to use bicycle ambulances in rural communities.Program goals
Most rural areas in Africa are unreachable by regular vehicles due to rough terrain and impassable roads. Bike4Care aims to solve this problem by improving access to healthcare through providing bicycles to health workers. The program also aims to generate income for local health workers by reinvesting a portion of the funds they pay for their bikes into income generating activities for their benefit.
Key program components
Bicycles were chosen as the method to deliver care as they have a high-level of affordability, low difficulty of maintenance, are easy to utilize, and are highly maneuverable. It is due to these advantages that the capacity of health workers to visit more patients is improved, increasing their capture area and the speed that they can reach patient. Health workers pay 25% of market price (they pay about 2,500 ksh / around US$29) for the bicycle, on the condition that they continue to work as a health worker for at least 2-3 years. This money is invested back into income generating activities for the health workers. Health workers use their bicycles for door-to-door health checks and counselling. Health care workers usually work in cooperation with public dispensaries, and a portion of the project is always done with a local organization. These dispensaries and clinics will also buy specially designed bicycles from Bike4Care to act as emergency transport vehicles. There are currently plans to expand into the Philippines in 2013, and then to move into other Asian countries.
Bike4Care serves 63,740 households per month, with the average household being 7 people. As of October 2012, there were over 500 community health workers trained and equipped with bicycles in Africa.
Scale
Financials
Reported Results
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