Getting care to people the road doesn’t reach
In South African townships, an emergency doesn’t end when someone calls for help. Rough terrain and narrow paths keep vehicles out, and discrimination and safety concerns add further barriers.
Neighbors step in with what they have, carrying patients on their backs or in wheelbarrows. It’s an act of care, but it’s unsafe and undignified, and it delays treatment, especially for the most vulnerable.
How the problem reached us
Lebo Molete, a health policy advocate in South Africa, brought this problem to students at MassArt and MIT D-Lab. We began designing and prototyping in Spring 2024.
What we learned on the ground
In January 2025, we traveled to Langa with Lebo. Through the Tekano Fellowship network, our first stop was Mzikhona Mgedle, founder of the Langa Bicycle Hub, whose team took us through the township by bike. We saw homes built from debris and found materials, in places without access to clean water or electricity. Yvette Andrews, Clinical Program Coordinator for Langa, gave us an unfiltered look at healthcare in townships and introduced us to the coordinator of Langa’s 42 community health workers, who showed us their wellness centre.
What we saw went beyond what research could tell us. Together we decided the stretcher should operate from that community site.
Health &
Wellness
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As part of a collaboration between Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) and MIT’s D-Lab, the project REACH—Reliable Emergency Access for Community Health— was formed to focus on improving emergency medical transportation in underserved areas of South Africa.
Lebo Molete, a health policy advocate in South Africa, brought us the problem: Residents in South African townships face barriers to emergency care due to inadequate transportation infrastructure and emergency response systems. Rough terrain and narrow paths hinder access for vehicles, and discrimination and concerns over safety force residents to resort to unsafe and undignified methods such as carrying patients on their backs or in wheelbarrows. This results in delayed care and poses additional risks, particularly for vulnerable populations.
We began our first round of design and prototyping in the Spring of 2024. In January 2025, we made our initial trip to South Africa with Lebo Molete to meet with community members and learn about the gaps in their emergency healthcare systems. Through the Tekano Fellowship network, our first stop was a meeting with Mzikhona Mgedle, the founder of Langa Bicycle Hub. The team took us through the Langa township by bike, explaining the different areas and terrain of the township and the existing infrastructure. We saw homes constructed of debris and found materials where there was no access to clean water or electricity. We also spent time with Yvette Andrews, the Clinical Program Coordinator for Langa, who provided an unfiltered look into the realities of healthcare in townships. She introduced us to the coordinator of Langa’s 42 community healthcare workers (CHWs), who gave us a tour of their small wellness center.
The insight we gained during this visit went past what our research could tell us, and helped us see the logistical and systemic barriers first-hand. Collectively, we determined that this community site would be the best place for our stretcher to operate from.