Riders for Health tell MCN how motorcycles can save lives in rural Africa and announce future plans

Riders for Health – who use bikes to help save lives in Africa – have spoken to MCN about multiple successes throughout 2024, as well as ambitious goals for the year ahead, including plans to standardise their fleet as part of a deal with Yamaha. 

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The project uses motorcycles to transport aid workers around hard-to-reach areas of the continent, providing communities with access to vital medical care. 

Not only that, but by making use of plentiful small and affordable motorcycles, the organisation can spread healthcare staff over a larger area than the traditional model of using expensive four-wheel drives. 

Riders for Health maintain operations in The Gambia, Nigeria and Lesotho with a fleet of over 600 motorcycles – although they have worked in other countries, too.

Riders for Health CEO Kayode Ajayi told MCN: “This year alone we have moved over 5.5 million medical samples for testing from rural communities. 

“We have established a vaccine facility in Nigeria and in Lesotho, we are soon to move into a much bigger facility which will allow us to expand. For 2025, we want to expand in manageable chunks. We’re looking to add more bikes as the programme grows. 

“Yamaha have been very supportive of our work and now we have agreed a deal in principle for a partnership with them which will help with our goal of standardising our fleet.” 

Describing the importance of motorcycles for the process of disseminating vital healthcare, Ajayi added: “We must travel on a lot of bad roads in rural Africa, so organisations typically rely on 4x4s. 

“After a while, [health] ministries usually run out of money to maintain these expensive vehicles.

“Behind most ministries in Africa there are heaps of broken-down cars and trucks with the most minute problems because they are too costly to fix. 

“We recognised this problem and realised that we could get at least 20 motorbikes for one Land Cruiser, which meant we could do five times the work with the same money.” 

Andrea Coleman, CEO of Two Wheels for Life (a UK based organisation formed almost a decade ago to support Riders for Health) said: “Unless you focus on the vehicles, people will ultimately die because all the vaccines, the medicine, and the workers will never reach them. 

“It can be hard to get genuine parts which means potential for unreliability – that’s something we simply can’t afford. Having Yamaha onboard will help with that. 

“Some people have never seen a health worker, so the impact Riders for Health has can be huge and of course, the more motorcycles there are, the greater that impact can be.”