Between Monday 12^th and Sunday 18^th April 2021, I will be hosting a virtual run for Transaid, raising money for their vital road safety and access to healthcare programmes in Africa. I have pledged to run 26.2 miles non-stop, from my local area to RHA’s new Custom Brokerage Office in Birkenhead!

For those who don’t know me well, I have worked in the logistics industry for over 35 years. During this time I have worked for many well-known logistics operations including TDG, Wincanton, Hays and Samworth Brothers Supply Chain, looking after some of the most prestigious FMCG businesses such as HJ Heinz, GSK, Panasonic and adidas to name a few.

Transaid is a charity that is very close to my heart, as the transport and logistics sector is integral to the vital work that they conduct. Transaid is an international development charity that identifies, champions implements and shares local transport solutions to improve access to basic services and economic opportunities for people in Africa, and in developing countries. Transaid’s main objective is to improve transport solutions in relation to healthcare, livelihood and road safety.

COVID-19 has created unprecedented disruption worldwide. In the last 12 months, Transaid found that 84% of health facilities they surveyed in rural Zambia reported stock-outs of essential medicines attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Transaid has risen to the challenges posed in order to overcome both these new and existing issues. By March 2021, over 3,250 Community Health Volunteers across 10 districts in Zambia had received a RAS (a key medicine in tackling severe malaria) and community mobilisation training from their MAM@Scale programme.

Running for Transaid to raise funds and awareness, for well-being and to remember that global solutions are needed for global problems has never been so critical!

What your help could fund:

• £12 could buy the materials to install eight tippy taps, to equip four communities with two hand washing facilities
• £60 could buy PPE and run COVID-19 sensitisation sessions for ten truck drivers
• £100 could buy locally produced facemasks for 100 community health volunteers in Zambia 
• £120 could buy a strong bicycle for a health worker, enabling doctors and nurses to reach more communities every day
• £240 could buy 800 doses of RAS (pre-referral anti-malarial drug, buying a sick child an extra 12 hours to reach a health facility)

With your help Transaid can continue to improve rural community access to healthcare and ensure that truck drivers do not have to fear for their health when they leave for a day’s work.