In Uganda, a tougher bicycle offers hope for better health coverage in rural areas

Lira, Uganda – The bike parked in the Lucy Abalo complex does not belong to it. One of the hundreds of people in his village can arise and ask to use it.

A man could wish to take his pregnant wife for an exam. A woman may need transport to recover HIV drugs. An injured child may need a hospital trip.

“The kindness of this bike,” said Ambalo, is his availability for everyone.

It is one of the dozens of “village doctors” in the rural regions of Uganda which have recently been supplied with the buffalo bike, so called because its steel parts are reinforced to occur in areas with bad roads.

World Bicycle Relief, a non -profit organization based in Chicago, promotes the Buffle bike in distant regions of Africa. He collaborates with governments, non -governmental groups and others that use bikes to improve access to health services.

In Uganda, an East African country of 45 million people, efforts to market the bicycle focused on supporting health workers like Abalo, who visits people’s houses and reports to the authorities.

As a worker of the extension of community health, or chew, she has won the confidence of the villagers, who can knock on her door in emergency situations. She said she was helping to deal with around 8,000 people in the region.

And at least twice a week, she is required to present herself to a health center managed by the government about 5 kilometers (3 miles) and to help with triage patients.

The Ugandan health authorities recognize that a challenge for chews is transport, part of a larger charge of poverty which can leave health establishments without ambulances or even gas to move them.

World Bicycle Relief, operating locally under the name of Buffalo Bicycles Uganda, has collaborated with the Ugandan health authorities since 2023 to equip 331 chew in two of the country’s 146 districts. One is read, 442 kilometers (274 miles) north of the capital, Kampala.

Bikes have long been omnipresent and many families tend to have one. Cultural standards in northern Uganda do not prohibit women from riding. While the roads of the city of Lira are paved, the dirt roads lead to the heart of the district where agriculture is the main economic activity.

Buffalo’s bike is a recent arrival. Many have never heard of it or cannot afford it. Selling about $ 200, it is three times more expensive than the cheapest ordinary bike – if not out of reach for many masts, who do not yet earn a salary.

Bike promoters cite its durability on damaged terrain, requiring less trips to the mechanic to save money.

The heavy caliber steel frame of the Buffalo bike is so strong that it comes with a five -year warranty, said Amuza Ali, a Lira surveillance agent for Buffalo Uganda bikes.

Ambalo and others said to the AP that the buffalo bike was uncomfortable to use at the beginning, with a braking system that does not allow you to return without worry.

“When I climbed it, it was not as simple as I thought,” said Ambalo. “I said to myself:” I try again to learn to roll. »»

According to a study published in May by World World Bicyled Relief, chewing masts reported a 108% increase in households, and the time to reach health establishments has dropped by almost half, according to a study published in May.

The study shows that “mobility is not a luxury in health care”, but a rescue buoy, said CEO Dave Neiswander in a statement published for the report.

Diana Atwine, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health, urged the distribution of bikes to more chewing in Uganda, saying that front -line health workers are unknown to live each year.

Abalo received his buffalo bike from the Minister of Health last year.

One of her neighbors, Babra Akello, said that she had already used the bike at least six times. The first was for transport to a prenatal exam. She congratulated Abalo’s desire to help.

The bicycle was also used for emergencies. One evening earlier this year, a neighbor’s 4 -year -old child suffered a deep cup playing in dirt. With the parents of the child, Abalo transported the bleeding boy to an establishment where he briefly lost consciousness before being revived.

“This bike, not me, saved the life of this child,” said Ambalo. “If this bike had not been there, I don’t know what would have happened.”

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