Bodas For Life (B4L)

Leveraging Local Infrastructure to Improve Access to Healthcare

Bodas For Life Driver with patient. Nakaseke District, Uganda. Photo Credit: Amanda Oudin

Access to healthcare services to poor communities in developing countries, especially those in rural areas, is limited by underdeveloped transportation networks. The expansion of wireless networks to rural areas brings with it the potential to dramatically upgrade rural healthcare by developing cell phone-enabled systems and procedures to facilitate emergency response and facilitate transportation.

During the summer of 2007, the first team of UC Berkeley Blum Center Fellows traveled to Uganda. One of the key issues identified during their field work was a lack of transportation to the district health centers. As a result, many patients do not use the health services that exist at the district level, foregoing preventative care and treatment. In response, the "Bodas for Life" project was designed to provide communities with a system to request and access affordable transportation so that individuals can receive appropriate medical care when in need, thereby preventing further complications and improving long term health status. The main objective of the project is to leverage existing resources and infrastructure by using boda boda (motorcycle) drivers who typically have mobile phones and are located throughout most, if not all, rural areas. The project is based on the premise that poverty can be eradicated only by a healthy population with access to effective and efficient healthcare services.

Principal Investigator: Kristiana Raube, PhD, Haas School of Business, Graduate Program in Health Management
Field Location: Kyenjojo and Nakaseke Districts, Uganda
Partners: Mbarara University of Technology and Science; Bridge Network Ltd.; Science and Technology, Office of the President, Uganda; Ministry of Health, Uganda; Science and Technology Enterprise Development Organization, Uganda