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The role of mobility and transport in public health remains neglected both in terms of research and inclusion in development agendas. This paper examines the relationship between mobility and access to health services in low income countries, and assesses the impacts of transport interventions on access to health. The paper finds that distance and time taken to travel to health facilities prevents many people from accessing services and the direct costs of transport contribute a substantial proportion of expenditure on health care. Poor mobility and accessibility of maternal services has a major impact on excluding poor rural women from maternity facilities in low-income countries. This in turn impacts negatively upon broader initiatives towards safer motherhood and reducing maternal and neonatal mortality.

The paper concludes that mobility is key for many rural communities to accessing available preventive and curative services, and also supports indirect determinants of health including livelihoods and education. An integrated approach to transport development and health has the potential to indirectly enhance health through non-medical aspects of improved mobility, as well as through more direct health access routes.

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