Bicycle ambulances saving lives in Africa

For most EMS professionals, state-of-the-art equipment and gadgetry, not to mention ambulances that are quickly becoming rolling ERs, is pretty much par for the course. But a recent story from Malawi shows that sometimes the most low-tech solutions are really all that’s needed to save lives.

Malawi has the highest maternal mortality rate of any non-conflict country in the world – 807 deaths per 100,000 births. The small village of Pitale, however, claims it has reduced the mortality to rate to zero. Not a single woman has died in childbirth in the last five years. How did they do it? Bicycle ambulances.

A rudimentary stretcher that looks somewhat like a chaise longue lawn chair with wheels on it is rigged up to a standard bicyle.  There are no lights and sirens, no equipment, no qualified medics – but for women in labor who can’t walk the long distances to medical facilities, this simple ambulance has been a life saver.

Check out the video here.

Other projects in Namibia, like the BEN project, have seen more advanced bicycle ambulances with shade coverings and wider tires put to use in transporting AIDS patients and others to local hospitals. In a country where the sick and injured are often transported in wheelbarrows, this is a monumental improvement.

“Ambulance”, after all, just means something that can move or do the “ambling” for you when you can’t walk, which makes these makeshift bikes as much ambulances as any of our high tech trucks.