Educational Media Reviews Online

This brief film looks at the work of Dignitas International, a Canadian “pioneering medical humanitarian organization working with communities to dramatically increase access to life-saving treatment and prevention in areas overwhelmed by HIV/AIDS.” In particular, it looks at Pax Chingawale, a retired government worker who now volunteers his time with Dignitas to help his fellow Malawi countrymen who are battling HIV/AIDS.

Bicycling from home to home, village to village, Pax helps educate villagers about HIV/AIDS and how to help prevent the spread of the disease. With the central hospital miles away, it is critical that information and medication, like anti-retroviral drugs, make their way to rural areas. Dr. James Orbinski, President of Dignitas, works closely with Pax and other volunteers to help find grassroots ways to stop the spread of this disease. By the end of the film, a bicycle powered ambulance has been ordered to help Pax with his work. Those wanting substantial and detailed classroom supplemental materials would be better served by PBS’ Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge series. Yet, as part public service message, part documentary, part recruitment tool, The Bicycle will work as a classroom discussion starter for public health and community medicine classes. Part of the National Film Board of Canada’s Filmmaker-in-Residence Program, it is superbly filmed and edited.