Bikes for Good

Motorcycle Medecines

Small motorcycles deliver urgent medical supplies for Médecins sans Frontières

We’ve all got used to the sight of cheap Chinese-made 125s in recent years. Invariably based on older Japanese technology, they may not have always had the best quality (though they’ve improved in recent years) but their bargain basement prices have seen these scooters and geared bikes sell like hot cakes. Leading importer Lexmoto is usually in the UK’s top five selling brands – in December 2020 it outsold everyone else, even Honda.

Not just in the UK either. China exports thousands of 125, 150 and 200cc bikes to Africa, where they are appreciated for their low prices, simple rugged design and fixability. As in India and South East Asia, it’s not unusual to see them out and about carrying huge loads to market, or whole families.

Many are used as short distance taxis, most famously in Nigeria, where they are known as okada. In many African countries, small geared bikes have become an essential part of the transport network, and when their use was banned in Lagos, largest city in Nigeria, for a while, the result was transport chaos as the bus alternatives failed to cope with demand. Okada are not the safest means of transport – riders tend to be young men – but there’s no denying they are part of African urban life. They are even entering the internet age, and in the last few years taxi hailing apps have sprung up – Uber for motorcycles – to meet demand. In Uganda, SafeBoda has made a name for itself as a hassle-free alternative to informal hailing while in West Africa, Max.ng, a Nigerian company, is about to scale up operations.

Now there’s another vital job for these small geared bikes to do – transporting medical supplies, and not just in Africa. Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), the international aid organisation, has found that small motorcycles are sometimes the best means of getting supplies to the most inaccessible parts of the world.

“Very bad roads mean it is a very difficult passage for the bikes,” said Lucille Guenier of MSF, “but often there is no passage for cars at all – that is why we use the motorcycles. For our projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Myanmar we regularly

Above: stopped for a breather – this is one of the better roads Below: 150s and 200cc trail bikes are cheap to run and good on fuel

Above: Coolboxes ensure vaccines are still effective

use them, often hiring riders and machines from a small pool as needed. The MSF riders have training and protective equipment, and there are standard maintenance protocols for the bikes.”

Often small machines are the only means to get supplies through. Marc Wilkinson, a pharmacy manager for MSF in North Kivu, DRC, explained the challenges in delivering blood supplies to the remote settlement of Walikale. “The only way to get there is by plane, with a six-hour car journey on top. But because of the weather it can be too dusty to land or else too wet, so everything gets cancelled. Then, through somebody who knew somebody, we were able to organise a motorbike to travel 200km to collect a consignment of blood and take it to Walikale.”

Cold Chain

We all know about vaccines now, but not all need to be kept at sub-zero temperatures. Most of them need to be stored at 2-8 degrees C to remain effective, though this is still a challenge in areas with uncertain or non-existent power supplies. MSF’s solution is to fly vaccines into the country by cargo plane. For inaccessible and remote areas, the bikes, the final link in the essential ‘cold chain,’ are fitted with giant coolboxes to keep the vaccines at the right temperature.

MSF has found that 125s are usually too light for this sort of work, but it does use Chinese 150s and also favours the Yamaha AG200. Conditions are tough for the riders. “On one trip through the Congo through equatorial forest they had to ride through mud, high heat and humidity, crossing rivers on tree trunks and putting the bikes into canoes to reach some villages,” said Lucille Guenier. “There are long-term physical impacts, such as backache,” added Senga Walila, one of MSF’s mechanics. “But for me the positives are that I have been able to strengthen my technical knowledge and work at delivering humanitarian aid.”

Riders are trained and given decent kit

sometimes there’s no road to speak of...

About MSF – how you can help

Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) is a humanitarian aid organisation dependent on donations to carry on its life saving work, so it needs your support. With Covid-19 still at large across the world, now more than ever. You can donate at: https://secure.msf.org.uk/Donate