Every year billions of dollars are spent on drugs and vaccinations in Africa, but fail to reach their destination because no thought is given to transport. Good roads are rare and a single health worker can be responsible for 20,000 patients scattered across miles of treacherous terrain.

Delivering healthcare on foot or even by bicycle is an exhausting task, and even when vehicles are available they quickly break down when no-one has the maintenance expertise required to keep them on the road. The founders of Riders for Health - two bikers and a motorbike enthusiast - decided this was unacceptable.

They set up Riders for Health which trains doctors, nurses and health workers to ride motorbikes safely and, crucially, has developed a system for maintaining the bikes in Africa’s harsh environment. Each programme is run by locals and the ‘preventative maintenance’ system means the bikes are never off the road.

That means health workers can visit many more patients, hold mobile clinics in far flung villages and crucially, offer preventative treatment that can halt the spread of Malaria, HIV and TB. Riders for Health has traditionally been supported by bikers and the racing community. But we hope Times readers will join them and donate to this innovative and ambitious charity which is making such a difference to the delivery of healthcare in Africa.

* Health care can be delivered to five times more people by motorcycle than on foot.

* A 21 per cent decline in malaria deaths has been measured in areas where all health workers are mobile. Riders prevent the motorcycles from ever breaking down. So communities are reached, day in day out, with bed nets and curative medicine.

* People are almost certain to die in rural Africa if they are seriously ill and live more than 8 miles from a hospital or clinic because of lack of transport

* Motorcycles and ambulances managed by Riders increase a vehicle’s life span by 300 per cent in the harsh conditions of Africa.

* Reliable access to health care means more people are reached per £1 and fewer people die of easily preventable and curable disease.

* Men, women and children in remote rural communities will see a health worker every week if the health worker has a motorbike