'Pink riders': Siaya's bodaboda girls hitting the road for mothers and children's health

Clad in a bright pink T-shirt and a reflective vest, Lucy Odele confidently rides her matching pink motorcycle along the rocky, muddy roads of Ukwala.

Branded Boda Girls, the motorbike is more than a means of transport; it is an identity and a symbol of hope in remote villages, helping women access essential reproductive health services.

The colour is deliberate. Easily visible from a distance, pink is closely associated with safety and trust, especially among women who for years have struggled to access timely maternal and child healthcare.

At midnight and in the early hours of the morning, the pink motorbikes are often on rescue missions, saving lives, particularly those of women in labour. They go where cars cannot, cutting through mud, darkness and narrow paths to ensure expectant mothers reach the hospital before complications set in.

Each morning, after preparing her children for school, Odele reviews her diary, listing women and children who require care that day. The list includes family planning, antenatal clinic visits, deliveries, cervical and breast cancer screening, and immunisation for newborns and children under five. With her routes mapped out, she rides from household to household, transporting patients to health facilities.

“Transport is the biggest challenge, made worse by poor roads. I take pride in ensuring women and newborns get the care they need,” says Odele.

In these remote villages, the pink motorcycles have become a lifeline, often the difference between life and death when labour starts unexpectedly in the dead of night.

Beyond transport, Odele sensitises families about cervical cancer, explaining what screening involves and why it is lifesaving.

She recounts an encounter with a woman she referred to a health facility, who unknowingly had early-stage cervical cancer and agreed to be screened after Odele’s persistence. The woman tested positive, was referred for treatment, and fully recovered.

“It is worrying that women suffer from cancer in silence because they do not see the importance of testing. I remember this woman who did not know she was sick, but through the health talks I had with her, she was encouraged to seek screening, only to be diagnosed with cancer. I am happy she was treated and recovered because it was detected early,” says Odele.

She adds, “If I had not taken her for screening, she might not be alive today.”

Free services

Patients are taken to Matibabu Hospital Foundation, where services ranging from immunisation and deliveries to cancer screening and antenatal care are provided free of charge.

At the facility, Odele is joined by a group of boda girls, each with a branded motorcycle, who have also ferried patients for care.

The boda girls operate under a boda riders programme established at the facility to enhance primary and preventive healthcare services, with a focus on maternal and child health, including cancer care at the community level. Patients receiving maternal and child health services are ferried home free of charge, while boda riders transport other patients from the facility at a fee.

Odele joined the boda riders programme in 2023 and has since been ferrying patients in need of healthcare to the facility as part of her daily routine. Every week, she transports at least five people to the hospital, women who would otherwise forgo care because they lack the Sh200 to Sh500 needed for transport.

According to Ugenya Sub-County Ministry of Health Officer Victor Odhiambo, the boda girls have significantly improved access to healthcare services at the community level, particularly antenatal attendance, hospital deliveries and immunisation.

Pregnant women now reach hospitals on time, reducing delivery-related complications, he says, adding that women registered under the Social Health Authority (SHA)receive free deliveries. Data already shows a marked increase in hospital births.

“Transport has enhanced hospital deliveries, as women from remote villages get to facilities in time, in all weather conditions,” Odhiambo notes, urging expansion of the service to more disadvantaged areas.

The boda riders work closely with Community Health Promoters, delivering promotive and preventive health messages directly to households. Odhiambo says this collaboration has strengthened community-based services, with malaria testing, diabetes and hypertension screening, and early referrals reducing the burden on health facilities. 

“With community testing and boda riders escorting women for cancer screening and reproductive health services, we are reducing the costs associated with curative care,” he says.

For women like Scolastica Anyango from Sirando village, the pink motorcycle became an unexpected bridge to preventive healthcare. She had long feared cervical cancer screening, haunted by stories of painful pap smears, until one day boda girl Irene Atieno stopped by her home.

Atieno patiently explained the newer, quicker and more effective screening methods offered at Matibabu Hospital Foundation, including HPV DNA testing. She counselled and reassured her before taking her to the hospital, where she tested negative.

“If the boda rider had not come, I would not have gone,” Anyango admits. Atieno, once a housewife, now earns up to Sh1,000 a day through the programme. Trained in First Aid, she can stabilise unconscious patients and support emergencies before reachingthe  hospital.

The boda girls programme was established in 2022, amid rising cases of teenage pregnancies in the region.

At the time, male boda riders were accused of luring schoolgirls into sexual relationships, sometimes offering rides or small favours such as sanitary pads. 

To address this, Matibabu Hospital Foundation partnered with Tiba to create an initiative that would economically empower young women while ensuring safe transport and improved access to reproductive health services. The girls undergo a rigorous recruitment process, are enrolled in driving school for National Transport and Safety Authority examinations, and receive a month-long First Aid course.

They also receive health advocacy training covering gender-based violence, cancer, antenatal and postnatal care, immunisation and nutrition.

Once trained, they are issued motorcycles for patient transport and personal income generation. At least 40 boda girls have been trained so far.

Faith Muasya, who leads the initiative, says the programme includes an innovative nutrition component. During the 14th week of immunisation clinics, mothers receive packages of kales, spinach and an avocado seedling—symbolic gifts linking households to health and nutrition.

The boda girls track pregnant mothers from antenatal care through delivery and postnatal follow-up. “For maternal health, there has been a significant impact,” Muasya says.

At Matibabu Hospital Foundation, Acting Project Officer Dan Oguta notes that the boda girls have closed a long-standing gap in referrals.

As a result, hospital deliveries have risen sharply, with about 100 deliveries conducted monthly, surpassing some sub-county hospitals. 

Antenatal visits have increased to 250 per month, while at least 45 samples are collected daily for cervical cancer screening. Cases of malnutrition, particularly among teenage mothers, have also declined.

Rotary Club Western Kenya Regional Coordinator Rose Waringa describes the boda girls model as one of the most practical and impactful community healthcare innovations.