Amongst the very many serious problems faced and endured in rural Africa, it is the almost total failure of ordinary mechanical transport. This particularly becomes a problem because of the central nature of transport in health care. Transport is a “means to an end”, it gives value (or usefulness) to the products and services, it takes them to where they are needed most hence making them valuable. For example, an effective drug or vaccine does not have value while still in a warehouse or a drug store. It becomes valuable only and useful when transported and administered to a person in need, who may be in last mile. Without reliable transport for health services to reach the last mile, for example infants fail to be immunised and suffer or die from elementary diseases that were long ago conquered in the developed world.

When infectious diseases strike, getting a fast and accurate laboratory diagnosis is critical in stopping an outbreak from becoming a widespread epidemic. In remote areas, transporting samples from local healthcare facilities to diagnostic labs can be a risky process and needs specialized couriers. Sending sick patients to faraway labs risks passing disease to others along the way. Using healthcare workers to transport samples can leave local clinics short-staffed for long periods. Delays in getting an accurate laboratory diagnosis can lead to improper precautions or incorrect treatment – all of which give opportunities for outbreaks to spread. The lessons from COVID 19 are that testing, and more testing is key to suppressing disease transmission.

Modern day medical sciences rely heavily on pathogenic detection through laboratory diagnosis to precisely give the correct remedy to an illness. This helps in quick healing process, quick stopping of disease transmission, reduces pain and reduces negative outcomes such as drugs treatment reactions and death due to iatrogenic causes and contributes to the overall wellbeing of the patient.