摩托车成为许多角色：交通运输，娱乐或只是收藏家的玩具。现在，在撒哈拉以南非洲，Okoa项目组织使用他们的全新的东西。在对全球流感大流行冠状病毒的战斗，该组织将其创新的摩托车救护车到移动设备中对COVID-19的战斗。这是适应新的威胁，同样的故事，整个世界面临现在的故事，这是一场战斗，你可以借给你们的支持。
The Okoa Project story began in 2016, when theThe Olive Branch for Children, a non-government organization in Tanzania, reached out to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for help. The Olive Branch needed help from creative problem solvers, says Leah Turner, the Okoa Project’s director of marketing and fundraising. MIT’s D-Lab was a natural choice, with its focus on developing innovative technology to address global poverty challenges.
本来，Okoa项目的重点是减少在坦桑尼亚农村孕产妇的死亡率。几乎世界上所有的产妇死亡发生在发展中国家，而这些死亡的半数以上发生在撒哈拉以南非洲地区。孕妇没有获得适当的医疗服务在农村地区，并有运输到医疗中心的机会很少。该项目的第一项任务是建立一个高性价比的摩托车救护车，让人们就医
你的战车已经来临！这些MOTO-救护车本地制造，降低成本。
First, Okoa’s engineers designed the Mbeya Model, a lightweight and tough trailer meant to be towed behind a motorcycle. The Mbeya has a stretcher, and a seat for a family member to ride with the patient—it may be light, but it’s intended to carry a load. There isn’t much to it, just a metal frame with a fabric covering, but it changes the realities of pregnancy for many women.
Okoa项目组成员还设计了一个三轮摩托车，救护车，被称为Sissala模型。它由一个小-CC摩托车发动机提供动力，从通用于该地区的自行车。像Mebaya，这个人力车样车是建立在非洲，有加强的前端处理额外的重量和碰撞，并在后面的救护车/货物部分。
特纳说，救护车所需的驱动程序，而这也正是该项目的国内合作伙伴进来了。像橄榄枝对于儿童和道德基金会组织必须雇用合适的员工所需要的当地知识，以及导航当地医疗系统。
内置的划伤定制这是功能性的，不像大多数臭小子/咖啡厅的赛车手/加扰器/菜刀在那里。
“这些组织在社区建立的存在，他们知道到底是谁给我们连接，从姆贝亚找到出租车司机发现在土木画家和裁缝。在我们每一个职位，我们的合作伙伴一直在我们连接到本地的工程师谁加入我们的团队打造救护车工具，”特纳说。“在坦桑尼亚，摩托车的出租车司机也相当普遍;与现有的基础设施，我们能够找到可信驱动程序，并培训他们如何安装和拆卸拖车，并给他们急救培训。我们还与社区设立救护车调度系统，将使感，实际上是由社区利用密切合作。
“Sissala东部、加纳、发现司机different situation. There are small referral sites that are staffed by a nurse typically called CHPS compounds (Community-based Health Planning & Services), and in working with the district health office we found that it made more sense for our ambulances to be stationed at the CHPS compounds so that patients could be driven and accompanied by a trained healthcare worker. “
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So the Okoa Project started building ambulances, and set up a network of staff to man them. Then, COVID-19 happened.
该项目通过询问公司的工程师打造洗手台，其救护网络分发它们，用肥皂和PPE一起启动它的响应。特纳说，在洗手台被加纳妇女与该国的国家卫生服务而设计的，他们已经经过实战证明。在西非的2012埃博拉，这些洗手台减少了疾病的传播。现在，他们正在争取COVID-19。但是，特纳说，Okoa项目正在寻找新的方式来使用它的组织对抗冠状病毒的流行。一些可能性包括使用救护车，移动检测门诊，或利用他们提供的必备品，以便社区能够更有效地隔离。但是，即使这是从怀孕的母亲原来工作的一个大型交换机，特纳说，Okoa项目的目标是最终相同。
这些洗手站可能貌不惊人，但设计被证明是有效抗击埃博拉病毒。现在，Okoa项目使用这些设备的战斗COVID-19。
“While our organization was started to address maternal mortality, we are dedicated to connecting people to healthcare, whether they need to give birth, receive treatment for malaria, receive rehydration therapy for waterborne illnesses, or now be treated for COVID19. We’ll continue to make sure that those who are often forgotten or left behind, our rural communities, have the same access to quality healthcare as their urban counterparts,” she says.
从长远来看，特纳说，Okoa项目的紧急救援工作可能会减少，但集团仍然会努力工作，帮助社区获得医疗，无论他们在哪里。
“Through this crisis, it’s become even more evident if it wasn’t before that the health systems in the communities where we were work are not prepared to handle a low-impact scenario, let alone the worst-case scenario of COVID19 infections,” Turner says. :Seeing these limitations exposes a huge gap between need and demand for essential healthcare and its availability, like the need for better hospitals, better referrals, and more timely care. We want the future of The Okoa Project to include working towards filling this gap.”
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So, how can you help? The Okoa Project needs volunteers, and while it may have started at MIT, and plenty of MIT students and staff are still involved, Turner says her organization has helpers all over the world.
“We are always looking for passionate individuals who share our belief that where you live shouldn’t determine whether you live and want to work with us to realize this vision,” Turner says. But what if your time is limited, and you can’t help out by volunteering?
According to Turner, this woman’s name is Buke. “This photo was taken after she gave birth to her 10th child and the only one of her births to take place in a hospital attended by medical staff. She had never been able to give birth in the hospital before due to the exorbitant cost of hiring a motorcycle taxi to take her to the hospital, with the alternative being a 3 hour walk there, and no other emergency transportation available to her … Because of our ambulances, for the first time in her life Buke was able to give birth safely with the proper post-natal care for both her and her new baby.”
You can always help by giving to the Okoa Project. Face-to-face fundraising has been difficult lately, due to COVID-19, but there is aGoFundMe帐户设置为集团的COVID-19的反应，以及通过给予选项Classy.org。特纳说，所有these donations go directly to on-the-ground programming which covers COVID19 and emergency healthcare.
“我们非常成本意识，”她说。“我们的救护车都只是2000 $，高达100倍比传统的救护车少，和高达3倍比竞争摩托车救护车少。只需$ 1.50可在我们的救护车之一提供搭车去医院。我们只是想让人们知道，即使大量的组织说，这一点，即使是最小的捐款，使一个巨大的差异;对我们来说，它确实可以是生与死的区别。”
感兴趣吗？捐出Classy.org，这些最后的数字一起：
你知道吗：
$ 4.50可提供游乐设施为社区一周
$20 can providebirthing kits for a community
$ 50可提供救护车maintenance for a year
$ 250可以提供one year of rides for a community
$ 550train12 ambulance drivers, enough for 4 villages
$1200 can provide数以百计of people with emergency transport
$ 2000可以提供一切社会需要救护车服务一年
照片：Okoa项目
