Balouo Salo Ambulance
Access to medical care, a right for all
Baghere, Senegal
Access to medical care, a right for all
Baghere, Senegal
In many rural communities in southern Senegal, falling ill can be a death sentence. The lack of ambulance services, suitable vehicles, or accessible roads causes critical delays in emergency care, often fatal for children, pregnant women, and people with serious illnesses.
To address this emergency, Balouo Salo has launched a project to provide the municipality of Baghere with a free ambulance service operating 24 hours a day. The vehicle will be equipped for emergency medical interventions and coordinated with the local health center and regional hospitals.
The project will ensure essential service to over 12,000 people, significantly improving survival rates in emergencies, neonatal complications, chronic diseases, and accidents. A concrete action to defend the universal right to health and reduce inequalities in access to care.
Ensure a safe, free, and accessible means of transport for vulnerable patients in rural contexts who otherwise would have no way to reach healthcare facilities.
Provide timely interventions in emergencies to reduce mortality from avoidable causes, often linked to the inability to reach a medical center in time.
Facilitate access to Balouo Salo’s Center for Combating Child Malnutrition, promoting early care for at-risk children.
Provide a continuous and free 24/7 service managed by a local team of drivers, serving hundreds of villages and tens of thousands of people in southern Senegal.
The project area is home to over 35,000 people spread across about thirty rural villages lacking medical facilities. In this vast area, there is no public or free emergency transport: every medical transfer happens using carts, motorcycles, or makeshift buses, posing serious risks to patients’ lives.
The absence of an operational ambulance prevents the most vulnerable families from accessing timely care. Women in labor, malnourished children or those suffering from acute malaria, people with chronic diseases or injuries often forego treatment due to the difficulty and cost of long trips to urban health facilities.
With this project, Balouo Salo aims to acquire, refurbish, equip, and operate a fully free ambulance based in Baghere. The vehicle will be equipped with essential medical supplies and managed by a team of drivers and operators available 24/7. The ambulance will serve surrounding villages and can reach district or regional hospitals in emergencies.
The project aspires to become an essential support for accessing medical care in the area, contributing to reduced preventable mortality, ensuring healthcare access even to the poorest, and facilitating access to the nearby Center for Combating Child Malnutrition, another Balouo Salo initiative.
It is not just a means of transport but a tool of equity, dignity, and the right to health for those currently left behind.
The presence of a free ambulance in Baghere will mark a radical change for thousands excluded from healthcare. A life-saving vehicle that can intervene in critical situations, reduce transport times, lower healthcare costs, and provide assistance even in the most isolated villages.