Goodyear supports Transaid
Goodyear has joined with Transaid to support provision of emergency transport solutions for rural communities in Zambia.
The company funded a bicycle ambulance, a solution designed for transporting expectant mothers to the closest health facility, as well as protective clothing for the emergency transport volunteer drivers, and funding vehicle maintenance and training support for the maternal health programme; Mobilising Access to Maternal Health Services in Zambia (More MAMaZ).
Goodyear has an established global Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR program, in which one pillar is dedicated to care in communities. As a global company the CSR program is in operation in several countries across the world. Transaid operates in a number of rural communities in Zambia and Madagascar, implementing the Emergency Transport Schemes which work with local volunteers (who operate the bicycle ambulances) in places where emergency transport is unavailable. For expectant mothers this is often an impossible journey to make. Transaid focus on providing transport for communities such as these, which have no access to any vehicles or ambulances that would usually reach the women in need of care.
Goodyear funded a bicycle ambulance that is used by a community in Chama District, one of the most rural and isolated in Zambia. Bicycle ambulances provide essential transportation for the people of this community, especially women in labour who need to reach medical help with no delay. Between October 2014 and July 2016 4,105 women were transported to health care facilities. And in many cases those interventions were life-saving.
Marc Preedy, Commercial Director UK&I at Goodyear commented, “We recognise how critical bicycle ambulances are for many communities in rural, isolated areas of Africa. The funding we provided seems small compared to how big an impact it has on the people within the communities. As a company we are always working to improve the lives of those in our local communities, sometimes we also need to focus on the communities a little further afield.”
Gary Forster, CEO of Transaid added, “We operate a number of programmes that create sustainable transport systems that help to increase the number of women giving birth in health facilities. We are grateful to Goodyear for providing funding that enables us to expand our work and we look forward to working with Goodyear in the future.”
To find out more about the work that Transaid is doing please visit: http://www.transaid.org/