The repo to contain the Public Health Science Gateway for Ugandans
Hi people, you have finally arrived at the Uganda Portal for Public Health. Currently, we are focusing uppacking the concept of Safe Roads as a enabler of a Safe City (see UN Sustainable Development Goal #11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities). We have started with targetting the Boda Boda economy (motorbike transport) which employs so many young men (120,000 motorcycles in Kampala alone; Data available from Kampala Capital City Authority). The boda boda business could be Uganda’s second largest employer after agriculture. However, this is a worrying trend considering its low contribution to economic growth.
The 2013 report authored by Standard Bank analyst Simon Freemantle and economist Jeremy Stevens measured motorcycle exports from India to seven African countries including Nigeria, Angola, Uganda Egypt, Kenya, Guinea and Djibouti. The findings indicate Nigeria is the largest importer of motor cycles from India followed by Angola with Uganda coming in at third position (Source:Roland Nasasira, 2016.The Daily Monitor.The boda boda economy defining the streets of Kampala.http://www.monitor.co.ug/Business/Prosper/boda-boda-economy-defining-streets-Kampala/688616-2869756-d4bwbo/index.html).
However, with the increase of Boda Bodas has come the rise in boda boda related accidents; especially head injuries. At Mulago National Referral Hospital, a casualty ward was created for victims of boda boda accidents; it is populated by so many riders with broken bones. The real question is: "Where do most of the boda boda passengers end up since they usually do not have the chance of jumping off before the accident proves fatal?" Many are crushed under the wheels of passing traffic especially after the headbump renders them unconscious. Less than 6 percent of injury patients arrive by ambulance at Mulago national referral hospital. According to officials at Mulago Hospital, 30 percent of patients are lost at the causality ward out of the over 1000 patients received monthly. Injuries make up half of all the admissions in all hospitals countrywide. These range from accident victims, burns, gender based violence victims, animal bites, falls and drowning among others (Source:https://ugandaradionetwork.com/story/6-percent-of-patients-arrive-in-mulago-by-ambulance).Our use case is the 1SMILE project which stands for Square Mile Infrastructure Leveraged for Emergencies; it targets 'Boda Boda'; a local term for "commercial motorcycles".
Our Value Proposition. For local first responders seeking to eliminate the Boda-Boda related accidents, 1SMILE is an uber for ambulance service for the 300,000 Boda Boda cyclists and their passengers to monitor the State of Care in Ambulances and Roads (SCAR) as last mile care infrastructure around accident blackspots in Kampala Capital City By repurposing 1000 'Good Samaritans' into a Community of Purpose for Blackspot Detectives organised in 100 ARTs (Ambulance Response Teams), Retasking 100 roadside Boda Boda parking stages as ARCs (Ambulance and Rescue Centres) through Guided Mastery of First Aid skills, and Retooling 10 Boda Boda motorcycles into BBAs (Boda Boda Ambulances) to deliver paramedics to the accident site within 15 minutes from an ACE (Ambulance Centres of Excellence) on the European Union-funded Northern Bypass by December 2017.
Using statistics from Mulago National Referral Hospital and World Health Organisation, we found that Boda-Boda related accidents that are killing and maiming young people at a rate of 1 casualty per hour (ie, 20 BB cases per day. WHO, Mulago National Referral Hospital), 1 death every 2.4 hours at Casualty Ward (30% casualties die at Casualty Ward per day), 2 Boda Boda cases come by Ambulance per day (6%) 1.5 hour delay of accessing care per road accident. 1.8Trillion (GBP255m) is the cost of road accidents to Uganda's GDP. 78% fatality rate every 10,000 vehicles (World Bank 2011) 7th. Uganda ranks 7th in road accident death rate of 37.14 per 100,000 (WHO 2014, WorldLifeExpectancy.com) 2nd largest employer in Kampala (KCCA, Kampala Capital City Authority). 6 neurosurgeons serving a population of 35 million Ugandans. 8 months recovery time of casualties; 3 months in hospital and 5 months recovering at home. 60% annual surgery budget on treatment of injured passengers and pedestrians. 300,000 Boda Bodas in Kampala (KCCA).
With the support of Sci-GaIA (the African Science Gateway), a project codenamed 1SMILE is underway seeking to RETASK commuters and drivers to become first responders, RETOOL the emergency health architecture with modular vehicles eg, modular UAV/unmanned aerial vehicles, and REPURPOSE vehicles of wellwishers into temporary ambulances especially in the Golden Hour. It is designed around extreme citizen science and the golden hour; using the Sci-GaiA platform to crowdsource citizen journalist reports (riders, commuters and drivers) on road accidents in Uganda with a view of supporting the journey towards safe cities and then smart cities. This project is in line with Uganda's Vision2040(http://gov.ug/content/uganda-vision-2040, www.npa.ug/wp-content/themes/npatheme/documents/vision2040.pdf) that contains plans to augment the National Ambulance Service(http://health.go.ug/content/first-fleet-10-unas-ambulances-deployment-across-kampala-metropolitan-area) and National Health Insurance Scheme. The proposed National Health Insurance Scheme will only have meaning when augmented with a national emergency ambulance system, a critical component in quality care (http://www.parliament.go.ug/index.php/about-parliament/parliamentary-news/478-national-ambulance-system-will-transform-uganda-s-healthcare-structure).
REFERENCES regarding your use case
Nnajjuma, Hellen (2013). Road Traffic Accidents in Uganda in view of Taxi Drivers Masaka District. Master’s Thesis in Human Development. Trondheim, Autumn 2013.
National Transport Data Base (NTDB) (2000). In Leyland J., et al. Road safety activities in a road maintenance project: The case of the western Uganda road maintainance capacity building. Retrieved from http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/12000/12100/12140/
Tanzarn, N., (2003). Integrating gender into world bank financed transport programs: case study, Uganda. Road sector programme support (RSPS). Retrieved from http://www4.worldbank.org/afr/ssatp/Resources/HTML/Gender-RG/Sourc
Uganda crime report, (2010). Annual crime and traffic/ road safety report - 2010. Retrieved http://www.upf.go.ug/Reports/Annual%20Report%202010%20Final%20(Launch).pdf on 31/3/2012
World bank, (2011). Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Policy Program-SSATP annual meeting 2010. Retrieved from www.worldbank.org/afr/ssatp on 1st/4/2012 World Health Organisation, and World Bank (2004). World report on road traffic injury and prevention. WHO, (2009). Global status report on road safety. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_safety_status/2009/en/index.html on 19/03/2012 WHO, (2012). Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 Retrieved from http://www.who.int/roadsafety/decade_of_action/plan/en/index.html on 29th /03/2012.