Riders for Health - Lesotho
Lesotho
Total population: 1,995,000
Life expectancy at birth m/f (years): 40/44
HIV infection rate: 23%
Lesotho is a small country surrounded entirely by South Africa. Known as the ‘mountain kingdom’, Lesotho is the highest nation in the world. It is the only country where its lowest point is over 1,000 metres. Much of the population live in small mountain villages well off the main tarred roads. These villages can be very difficult to get to, and are often impossible to reach with 4-wheeled vehicles.
In the past those who were ill had to walk for many miles and then wait on the side of the road for a taxi to take them to town to the hospital. For TB sufferers this would bring them into contact with other people who would be susceptible to catching the disease.
Almost one-in-four people in Lesotho is living with HIV/AIDS and many also have TB. Patients with weakened immune systems are far more likely to contract TB.
Lesotho is very mountainous. The majority of the families in the rural areas are involved in farming, with men usually involved in herding cattle. However, a large number of men live and work in South Africa, mostly in the mines, which results with main villages being mainly made up of women, children, and older people.
Riders for Health in Lesotho:
Riders for Health works with the ministry of health in Lesotho to mobilise various different types of health workers with motorcycles.
Riders’ technicians travel around the country each month to service the motorcycles so that they never breakdown. And all of the health workers we mobilise are t rained how to ride safely, and how to carry out daily checks on their bike to keep them working. They have to check fuel, the brakes, oil levels and that all of the nuts and bolts are tightened properly.
This focus on a system of keeping the bikes running everyday is what makes Riders work different. Bikes are often used for health workers in Africa, but if there is no training or system for looking after them, they breakdown and are useless. Health workers will be based at a local health centre or hospital in a local town and will have a catchment area of villages that they need to serve.
TB officers will travel to rural areas to distribute medicine, check on patients who may not be able to leave their homes, they will make sure that drugs are being taken properly (correct compliance with the drug regime is very important if they are to be effective), and they help to take blood and sputum samples.
Sample Transporters provide a vital service to the health system. For those people who may have HIV/AIDS or TB it is essential that they are tested quickly and accurately. Although tests have been redeveloped to test patients for HIV in their home or at a clinic, the CD4 tests, which determine the treatment the patient may need has to be done in a laboratory.
The sample transporters take samples from clinics to laboratories where they can be tested. In the past health workers had to use public transport or took the samples when they were making a journey to the local laboratory. This meant it could take weeks to get a sample from a patient to the lab and then get the results back again. Now, with a network of couriers to transport samples and results, the process takes only days.
We have found that not only does it make testing quicker, health workers no longer have to take time out to transport samples, and because testing is more reliable, people are more likely to access health care. Clinics and health workers have reported a big rise in people coming to visit them because they have faith in the system and know that if they are tested then the results will be back to them quickly.
Riders for Health also mobilises health workers who work with the organisation Mothers2Mothers. They employ women who are HIV positive to act as mentors to other mothers and pregnant women. They encourage women to get tested for HIV, and for those who are pregnant they advise them how to stop them spreading the disease to their children.
This film was made by Sky News and highlights three of the different types of health workers we work with in Lesotho:
Don’t forget to follow us and our celebs as we trek across Lesotho on Twitter! Get On Tweets, Gethin Jones, Darren Gough, Jill Halfpenny , Shobna Gulati and Oliver Mellor - and remeber to keep checking back at the Get On Africa Homepage for updates!
