Riders triples samples transported in six months
 In November 2009 Riders for Health launched its new Professional Sample Courier (PSC) programme in Zambia. Using our reliable and well maintained motorcycles, Riders couriers can now travel around the health centres collecting samples and delivering them to the lab, and returning with results a few days later. This has already had amazing results. In Riders for Health’s first month of operation in Zambia we transported 368 samples and results between the health centres and the laboratory. After six months we have increased the monthly collection rate by three times, transporting 1,146 samples in May this year. Joseph Sakala is in charge at one of the clinics, ‘If we don’t get any vehicle in a month, it means that the specimen will stay for a month or two months without getting to a laboratory. It’s a long time to wait. Especially for TB patients, because a TB patient is a threat to the community. If we keep waiting for the results, the disease gets worse and worse and they can receive no help. It’s all about transportation!’
 Before Riders’ new programme, it was often left to trained health staff in the health centres to take patient samples to the district lab for testing when they had time. Often they would use a bicycle, which could take the nurse four hours each way, across difficult terrain. It meant the health centre had fewer health staff to treat patients. Smaller health posts had to be closed for the time it took the staff to deliver samples. Now the PSC programme by Riders means that there are dedicated sample couriers to concentrate on this very task, leaving trained health staff the time to do their very important work – delivering health care to patients.
You can find out more about Riders' programme in Zambia by watching the BBC World News documentary, Alvin’s Guide to Good Business, by clicking here.
Could you transform someone like Joseph’s life?
Just £10 a month could help Riders to get more health workers on the road, so they can be there for the people, like Joseph, who so desperately need them.
In Western Kenya, Riders works with the community organisation, Vumilia – a group whose mission is to overcome HIV/AIDS in their community through counselling and practical support. Before Vumilia started working with Riders, they could only support 150 families. Now, they reach around 500 households with regular care.
Joseph is 38 and has two sons, aged two and eight. After his wife died, Joseph was left to care for the children alone. And in the months that followed, Joseph’s own health started to deteriorate.  Thanks to her new motorcycle, Vumilia carer Rosemary Mani was finally able to reach the remote area where Joseph lived. But by the time she met Joseph he was bedridden and in a great deal of pain, and the fear of HIV kept his neighbours away. 'My children are innocently suffering, as I am unable to provide for them,' Joseph told Rosemary. 'I am unable to walk and nobody is helping us.' Rosemary persuaded Joseph to go for an HIV test. Joseph was found to be HIV positive and put on a treatment programme. Rosemary also put him in touch with social workers who helped him to look after the children, and she continued to make regular home visits herself. Slowly but surely, Joseph’s health started to improve, and by Rosemary’s last visit he was even able to manage his business buying maize and growing vegetables. Thanks to the training she received from Riders, Rosemary can travel out on her motorcycle every day knowing that she is making a difference. By giving just £10 a month you could help keep a health worker like Rosemary on the road and reaching the people who depend on her to make a difference. If you would like to empower more women like Rosemary to change lives, please click here to set up a standing order today.
Stanford Social Innovation Review features Riders
A case study on Riders for Health features in the Summer 2010 edition of the Stanford Social Innovation Review.
The study takes an in-depth look at how Riders for Health’s co-founders Andrea and Barry Coleman developed the revolutionary Transport Asset Management system in the Gambia.  Because of its renowned technical expertise and recognised ability to cost very precisely each kilometre travelled by health care vehicles, Riders is able to ensure that vehicles in its care travel for the longest possible time at the lowest possible cost. Its preventive maintenance programme is based upon the principle of ‘zero-breakdown’, which means that there is no reason at all for a well-engineered and well-manufactured vehicle to break down, provided that preventive maintenance is carried out thoroughly and reliably. In September 2009 Riders for Health announced a landmark partnership with Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business in a five-year project funded by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In addition to our work in the Gambia, Riders' programmes enable nearly 11 million people to be reached by health care workers each year across Zimbabwe, Zambia, Lesotho, Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania. To read the case study, click here.
Thousands of fans raise money at Silverstone
On 17th June, MotoGP fans and supporters of Riders for Health – the official charity of MotoGP – flocked to Silverstone in Northamptonshire for Day of Champions to raise money for our lifesaving work in Africa. With people able to enjoy wonderful sunshine all day fans took the chance to see the stars of MotoGP ahead of the British grand prix.  The teams and riders all took part, throwing open the doors of the exclusive MotoGP paddock to lucky ticket holders. While on the pit-lane teams gave fans a glimpse of the work that goes into preparing a motorcycle for a weekend’s racing. In the Entertainment Zone fans enjoyed quizzes and interviews, while two-time World Superbike champion James Toseland and his band Crash kept the party going all day. Away from the stage there were stunt shows, rides with teams from the British Side-car championship, music and street entertainment. The highlight of the day was the famous Day of Champions auction, which raised tens-of-thousands of pounds. The riders appeared on stage to auction the unique and valuable items they brought with them. The money raised at Day of Champions will have a huge impact on our work in Africa, allowing us to mobilise more health workers and reach even more men, women and children with lifesaving health care. You can see a video from the Day of Champions auction by clicking here, or you can see some photos from the day here.
Riders for Health launches two Fiat Yamaha auctions
Riders for Health, the official charity of MotoGP, are giving people the chance to get their hands on two pieces of racing history, as they auction Jorge Lorenzo’s Dainese jacket and a signed Valentino Rossi t-shirt on their website, www.riders.org .  Valentino Rossi’s Fiat Yamaha team made sure that he was not forgotten at Silverstone by displaying a special t-shirt next to his bike in the pitbox. The shirt was seen on TV screens around the world. This one-off t-shirt features a cartoon of the world champion lying in bed with his leg in plaster, above the words ‘Torno subito’ or ‘I’ll be back soon!’. And it has been signed by Valentino Rossi himself. For fans of Jorge Lorenzo, Riders for Health are auctioning a Dainese jacket worn and signed by Lorenzo during his visit to the Isle of Man TT. To bid on either of these amazing items visit http://www.riders.org/auction.aspx?acid=5. Both auctions close at 21.00 (GMT+2) on Thursday 8th July 2010. All the money raised from the auction of these amazing items will support the work of Riders for Health in Africa.
Riders appears in New York Times
Riders for Health featured in an article by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. To coincide with Fathers Day the article looked at how, instead of buying another tie for your father,  why not make a donation on his behalf to a non-profit organisation? Highlighting Riders for Health as an example, he wrote ‘[F]or those into automotive accessories or tools and appliances (almost $1 billion a year, by the way), why not rev up instead a motorcycle used to bring medical care to people in remote areas? ... if you give dad a stake in a motorcycle at a clinic in Zambia, you can be pretty sure he won’t crash it... Wouldn’t most dads feel more honored by a donation to any of these organizations than by a donation to commercialism?’ Riders gift donations are available all year round and can help support health workers by providing fuel, protective clothing, tools and training. Click here to find out more.
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"When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world." George Washington CarverWhat is Social Entrepreneurship?Statement of Faith
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