Putting transport at the heart of development |
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| Saturday, 06 February 2010 18:45 | |||
 Over the past month there have been two stories in the news that have put transport in the developing world back into the spotlight.At the recent World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation committed to spending $10 billion over the next 10 years to help research, develop and deliver vaccines for the world’s poorest countries. The Foundation has said that by significantly scaling up the delivery of life-saving vaccines in developing countries to 90 percent coverage, the deaths of some 7.6 million children under five from 2010-2019 could be prevented. If isolated communities are to benefit from this new investment it is vital that health care workers have the reliable transport to reach every family. By training local technicians and by establishing networks of workshops Riders is maintaining vehicles so they work reliably. This means people can be confident that health care workers will reach them, and it means governments and organisations can achieve their health goals. Riders is already working with The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business to produce a study showing the impact that reliable transport has on the delivery of health care in rural Africa. In an earlier study into Riders’ work in the Gambia in 2005 it was shown that by running vehicles correctly, Riders helped increase the proportion of fully immunised infants from 62% to 73%. Riders’ new Transport Asset Management programme in the Gambia, which was launched in February 2009, means the country now has the potential to reach every community. Unfortunately, in recent weeks a much sadder story has also reminded us of the importance of transport in the developing world. The disaster in Haiti has shown us that people living in countries that lack reliable infrastructure are the most vulnerable and suffer most when struck by an environmental disaster. The work that Riders for Health carries out in countries across Africa focuses on sustainable health care delivery, rather than the emergency response that has been required in Haiti. However, the work in the Caribbean will soon shift from an initial relief effort to sustained rebuilding. Like people in all countries, those in Haiti will need regular health care if their country is to develop. Time and again Riders has seen that vehicles in the developing world break down because there is no system of maintaining them correctly. This does not have to be the case. Organisations and governments must strengthen infrastructure in resource-poor and vulnerable areas so that if a disaster arises, be it physical, social or political, then there is a better chance of managing the crisis and recovery is more rapid and more successful. It is only by doing this that the people living in developing countries will receive the regular, basic health care that we all need. Article source: Riders for Health Note: Riders for Health is the Official MotoGP Charity
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