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A brighter road ahead
Christmas and the festive season is a time for coming together and looking ahead with hope. Alongside communities, governments and local partners, Transaid is helping to improve road safety and access to healthcare across sub-Saharan Africa, where safe, available and sustainable transport can open the door to opportunity, livelihoods and life-saving care.
Every day, millions of people face transport-related barriers that put their health and safety at risk:
- Around 1.19 million people lose their lives on the world’s roads every year, making road traffic injuries the leading cause of death for children and young people aged 5–29.
- 95% of global malaria deaths occur in the WHO African Region, with children under five accounting for around three-quarters of those deaths.
- Around 70% of maternal deaths worldwide occur in sub-Saharan Africa, where delays in reaching healthcare can have devastating consequences.
This Christmas, you can help create a brighter road ahead. Your support will help Transaid and our partners improve professional driver training, strengthen community-led emergency transport systems, and make roads safer for everyone.
Together, we’re helping more people reach opportunities, healthcare and loved ones through safe, available, and sustainable transport.
“The training is fantastic, very good. The instructors are highly skilled. It’s a government institution, and there are also partners like Transaid supporting the training. It means there are more chances for people like us to learn.” – Banda Helms, ITC trainee
After retiring from a career in teaching, 62-year-old Banda Helms enrolled at Zambia's Industrial Training Centre to gain his Class C truck licence, opening up new opportunities to support his family, transport agricultural goods and earn an income.
"My driving has changed because now I'm learning from highly skilled instructors... driving a vehicle isn’t like just walking."
For more than 20 years, Transaid has partnered with the ITC to strengthen professional driver training in Zambia through a sustainable train-the-trainer approach. Together, we've helped more than 25,000 drivers and riders develop the skills they need to keep themselves, and others, safe on the road.
Banda hopes that continued investment in training vehicles will allow even more students to benefit in the years ahead.
“Had it not been for the bicycle ambulance, a lot of people could have been dying in this community due to the distance.” – Minivah Miselo
In Zambia, Transaid and partners' Mobilising Access to Maternal Health Services in Zambia (MAMaZ) programmes helped increase skilled birth attendance from 46% to 78%, ensuring thousands more women could give birth with trained health professionals by their side.
Today, when a woman goes into labour or experiences complications during pregnancy, families are able to call an ETS rider to help transport her to the nearest health facility.
When Minivah Miselo began experiencing labour pains one afternoon, she knew she needed to reach the health facility quickly. After calling for the community's Emergency Transport System (ETS) bicycle ambulance rider, Minivah was taken to the health facility after a two-hour journey.
On arrival, the midwife examined Minivah and admitted her for observation. In the early hours of the following morning, at around 2am, she safely gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
Holding him proudly, she smiles. "This is Trust."
"There were challenges before," Minivah says. "But we always call the riders to come quickly and take us to the nearby health facility whenever we have issues. We are also being taught the danger signs of maternal emergencies through health education."
With Trust in her arms, she has one final message:
"Thank you so much to everyone helping. We really thank you. We are being saved through the services that you have helped create with this community."
With your support, Transaid and our partners can continue improving road safety and access to healthcare across sub-Saharan Africa, helping create a brighter road ahead for everyone.
A gift of £3 could fund a high-visibility vest for a driver in Ghana.
£10 could fund an eye test and glasses for a driver in Kenya.
£30 could help fund a community food bank in Zambia.
£125 could fund a bicycle for a Community Health Volunteer in Zambia.