Tricycle Ambulances Credited With Saving Four Lives in Remote Upper West Communities

Tricycle ambulances placed in five hard-to-reach communities in the Upper West Region have helped save at least four lives since they arrived in September, according to the Ghana News Agency (GNA).

The vehicles, fitted to carry patients, serve Kataah, Kpaglahi and Kulkpong in the Wa East District, and Vieri and Eggu in the Wa West District. The project, called “Wheels of Hope”, was carried out by the Rotary Club of Wa and the Rotaract Club of Accra-East Legon with funding from a Rotary Foundation Global Grant.

Emergencies that once waited for a motorbike

Before the ambulances arrived, patients referred from community health posts to hospitals in Wa usually had to arrange their own transport, often a motorbike or a commercial tricycle, GNA reported. Poor roads made those journeys slow, and late arrival at hospital could cost lives, especially for women in labour, young children and older people.

Health workers told GNA that referrals were hard to follow through. A senior enrolled nurse at the Kpaglahi CHPS compound said staff could not always be sure that referred patients actually reached the next facility.

During a recent visit by the project team, residents of Kataah said their ambulance had already carried an accident victim and a patient suffering seizures to health facilities in Wa. In Kpaglahi, residents said theirs had taken two patients who needed urgent care to Wa.

Communities asked to own the service

The Jimpenhi Naa, Naa Kadri Ibrahim, pledged that Kpaglahi would look after its ambulance, saying residents had long struggled to reach hospitals in Wa and Busa when referred. Felix Amonteba Petio, Director of Service Projects at the Rotary Club of Wa, urged each community to take collective responsibility for maintaining the vehicles so that the service lasts.

Ruth Buelah Awotwe, President of the Rotaract Club of Accra-East Legon, said the project grew out of a feasibility assessment that found serious gaps in emergency transport in the area.

Rotary clubs abroad, including clubs in Cambridge (Massachusetts), Kyoto and Berlin, partnered on the project together with the organisation Moving Health.

The organisers link the initiative to the Sustainable Development Goal targets on reducing maternal deaths and ending preventable deaths of newborns and children under five by 2030. Access to emergency transport remains a recurring concern in rural parts of the Upper West, where many communities sit far from district and regional hospitals.

Source: Ghana News Agency — https://gna.org.gh/2026/11/wheels-of-hope-rotarys-intervention-saves-lives-in-remote-communities-in-uwr/