Motomeds: Providing Essential Nighttime Healthcare to Children

Diarrhea, acute respiratory infection, and malaria are the leading causes of mortality for children under five, even though inexpensive treatments may be available. Poor communities struggle to access treatment for childrenespecially at night when treatment options are scarce.

Rapid treatment can prevent the need for increased interventions such as emergency care that may be limited, expensive, and risky.

The University of Floridas MotoMeds program is a pediatric nighttime telemedicine and medication delivery service that provides effective, low-cost treatments to young children in need of after-hours healthcare.

MotoMeds offers free access to a nighttime telephone medical line to triage cases, recommend treatment, and when necessary, order medicine and a household assessment delivered quickly by motorcycles. Since 2019, Motomeds has been serving a population of nearly 18,000 children in 50 rural neighborhoods in Haiti.

With support from Development Innovation Ventures, the University of Florida will expand MotoMeds with a pilot project in Accra, Ghana in partnership with the Ghanaian National Ambulance Service.

This pilot aims to reduce mortality among children under five, and to inform future replications of MotoMeds in Ghana and other countries.