World Bicycle Relief, which provides bicycles as a reliable means of transportation to rural health workers in Africa, has launched an urgent appeal for more donations to provide more buffalo bikes on the African continent to help fight the COVID-19 epidemic

Buffalo Relief has also launched an emergency appeal for donations to help fight the COVID-19 epidemic.

The buffalo bikes, which are specially made to carry heavy loads over often difficult terrain, cost 108 pounds/$138 USD each and a tool kit to keep them running smoothly costs 36 pounds/$46 USD. [World Bicycle Relief will host a live Q&A on the current situation on Thursday, April 9, at 10 a.m. Central Time, Canada.

"We are prioritizing our health care programs and are committed to using our expertise to help the most vulnerable in this immediate crisis," Dave Neiswander, CEO of World Bicycle Relief, said in a press release this week. [Our global community is in a race against time to mobilize frontline health workers and prepare the communities we serve. World Bicycle Relief is working urgently to leverage our expertise and support our partners as quickly as possible. The faster we scale up, the more people we can help."

"I am responsible for 105 families, 522 people," said Ramadan Bakari, a caregiver in Kakamega County, Kenya, illustrating the breadth of coverage a health worker with a bicycle can provide. With a bicycle, he said, "we can reach the sick very quickly."

Learn more about World Bicycle Relief's work here.