Motorbike maternity dashes for Sudan’s mums-to-be

Mothers-to-be in South Sudan will soon be shipped to hospital by motorbike ambulance in a radical move to cut infant mortality. It's not just the lack of clinics in the area that makes having a baby so dangerous, but also the lack of ways to reach health services, reports United Nations news service IRIN. Now five motorcycles with an attached sidecar bed, donated by the U. children's fund, will ferry patients in the remote Eastern Equatoria region to health facilities in a pilot project that could be rolled out to other parts of the country. Bike ambulances are cheap and easy to run and, they're also niftier than standard vehicles in places where roads are poor or non-existent.

It's a method that's already been tried and tested in Uganda and Malawi, where UNICEF says the bikes helped raise the proportion of women giving birth at health facilities from a quarter to half. “We have a problem bringing critically sick people to the few referral facilities available,” said Atem Nathan Riek, director-general of primary healthcare for Southern Sudan, which has among the worst rates of maternal mortality in the world.

A woman in the South has a one in six chance of dying during the course of her lifetime from complications during pregnancy or delivery, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Sudan’s overall maternal mortality ratio is 1,107 deaths per 100,000 live births, but rates are far higher in the South, rising to 2,243 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to UNICEF.

Lack of services is one reason - but so too is lack of transport to reach the few services available.“We have in our budget this year at least one ambulance per county, but even that one ambulance will not be enough,” Riek added. “So there is room for any other innovative activities like these motorbikes.”

The motorcycles, donated by UNICEF, cost about US$6,000 each, with space for the patient to sit or lie down on the cushioned bed on wheels, and seat belts for legs and waist.There is also space for a health worker to sit behind the patient to provide care and support. Two mechanics are being employed, and they will train local mechanics in the bike’s unique features.Life for a woman here is very hard,” said Mary Emmanuel, who had three children in her village without professional help. “The clinic was too far to get to, so perhaps these motorbikes could help change that.”

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children