No woman should lose their life while giving life. This is the vision for Dr. Jemimah Kariuki’s Wheels for Life. As Covid-19 changed the face of the world forever, pregnant women in Kenya bore the brunt of the lockdown in place to mitigate the spread of infections. With this came complications and the inability for pregnant women to get the timely medical care that would prevent unnecessary loss of life. Armed with a persistent desire for transformation and a passion for women, Jemimah Kariuki set out to change all this.
A Doctor in the Making
Jemimah Kariuki grew up in Eastlands, Nairobi, as the first of three children with two supportive parents. Dr. Kariuki witnessed her parents’ resilience through their steadfast work. The family moved from a single room to a double room and eventually bought their own land to build a family home. As a child, she attended Helen Biafra Nursery School and proceeded to Harambee and St Mary’s for Primary School. In Primary School, Jemimah juggled a multitude of activities including narrating, writing a play and being the commander of the Scouts. Keeping busy was energising for Jemimah and no hinderance to her academic work. She graduated from St. Mary’s with 402 marks in her KCPE and joined Pangani Girls for High School.
Developing a Passion for Change
At St. Marys, Jemimah was challenged to consider how she could transform Kenya for the better by her Social Studies teacher, Tr. Okumu; with a passion for proactive change. In a little black book, she detailed her grand schemes to effect change; a challenge that followed her even to high school.
While in Pangani girls, she facilitated the commissioning of a Peace Club in the wake of post-election violence in Kenya. She participated in debate clubs on Peace and represented the school in the first-ever Kenya Prefects Association at Bomas. Alongside her friend Enock Kamau, they initiated a ‘Barua kwa wazazi’ campaign that enlightened parents on the struggles of students and bring about healing after the conflict. Abuzz with ideas and a conviction for progression, Jemimah set her sights on becoming the president of Kenya – or a lawyer. However, after a visit to her father’s lawyer, sky-high piles of files unsettled Jemimah. It was clear that legal practice would be an unfulfilling path for her.
Upon dissecting an eye at school, Jemimah considered medicine as a real option. The eye was a beautiful kaleidoscope of colours that showed the soon to be doctor the allure of anatomy. When Jemimah visited the Chiromo Campus of the University of Nairobi, the serenity and leafy surroundings sold her. She graduated High School in 2010 and decided to pursue medicine.
Studying Medicine 
With a continuing passion for change, Jemimah set up the unprecedented Public Health Club at the University of Nairobi – an endeavour that required her to knock on many doors to gain approval. Jemimah’s tenacity led to the club’s registration. It focused on raising awareness on issues such as cervical cancer, diabetes and hypertension. The club succeeded in her time at university and became a hub for global trips and exchange programmes.
Dr. Kariuki began a medical internship in Murang’a in May 2017. She fell in love with the stories of mothers but began to notice delays in information, clinic attendance and arrival at the hospital during labour. These factors affected the likelihood of birthing healthy children and often led to complications, especially for high-risk mothers. Eager to be a part of assisting women to have healthy pregnancies and births, Dr. Kariuki applied to the University of Nairobi and gained admission to do a masters in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. She is pursuing it to date.
Establishing the Cause for Maternal Deaths
The lockdown in 2020 found Dr. Kariuki working as a gynaecologist-obstetrician at Kenyatta National Hospital where she regularly attended to pregnant women. Dr. Kariuki noticed that mothers were being lost to postpartum bleeding while analysing maternal mortalities at the hospital. Women trailed into the hospital after curfew hours, therefore, receiving late referrals. The cause of this delay was women having no access to transport during curfew hours.
With the high cost of ambulances and drivers being wary of transporting women after curfew, these women would often arrive at Kenyatta with bleeding complications common to home births. Eventually, other stories of maternal deaths caught Jemimah’s eye. In one story reported in the Standard newspaper, a woman succumbed to postpartum haemorrhaging alone. Jemimah knew she had to take action.
Wheels For Life is Born 
Upon noticing the difficulties in maternal health during the lockdown, Dr. Kariuki sent out a tweet on 7 April 2020. She asked that women unable to access hospitals during curfew hours reach out to her. Aware of the impact of digital media as a tool for communication and possible social change, she shared her phone number and promised to do her best to intervene.
The tweet received immense traction. Women with nowhere else to turn flooded Dr. Kariuki with calls and messages. Staying true to her word, she enlisted the help of other health professionals and Wheels for Life officially began on 28 April 2020. The initiative is a free ambulance service catering to women in or nearing labour.
Dr. Kariuki approached Kenya Healthcare Federation for support and met fellow health worker, Dr. Elizabeth Wala. With Wala’s support, Bolt (a transportation app) came on board to provide 500 free rides to labouring women. Dr. Kariuki had a working plan to close the transport gap for expecting women and reduce delays.
Up and Running
The question arose of what would happen when an emergency took place that a taxi driver would be unable to de-escalate. An on-demand ambulance service called Rescue joined the Wheels for Life team Rescue to better serve women in crisis. Rescue pledged 160 ambulances for free to Wheels for Life.
Jemimah onboarded other sponsors to support Wheels for Life with expanding its infrastructure – all while expecting her own child. TeleSky provided a toll-free call centre with the number 1196 on a pro-bono basis. With just one call, women could speak directly with medics who could determine whether transport to a hospital was necessary – even without access to the internet or airtime. This helped resolve cases of women giving birth at home and having no access to immediate postnatal care. Wheels for Life now operates in Nyeri, Machakos, Uasin Gishu, Kiambu, Nakuru and Nairobi Counties. A whopping 10,763 mothers were assisted by the Wheels for Life initiative between 28th April 2020 and 30th November 2021.
Global Recognition 
The world took notice of Wheels for Life’s transformational work. Appreciation soon followed. In Kenya, Dr. Kariuki is gazetted for winning the prestigious President’s Award in 2020. It was won in acknowledgement of her helping steer the nation through the pandemic. On the African continent, Dr. Kariuki is named among the most influential Africans in the world in Tropics magazine and Avance Media.
Beyond Africa, Dr. Kariuki was named one of the BBC’s 100 women in 2020 under the theme ‘Women who Led Change’. In 2021, she was also awarded the WHO-General Award – a prestigious form of recognition for contributions to global health. Tedros (the Director-General of the WHO) praised her for saving lives and advancing health in Kenya. These are but a few of the accolades that Dr. Kariuki’s dedicated service have earned her.
Looking Ahead
It is apparent that Wheels for Life is necessary beyond the pandemic. With limited cash flow and economic recovery in progress due to the pandemic, free services and access to medical care are as important now as ever. Dr. Kariuki’s team has continued to receive calls from women needing answers for all things pregnancy. She hopes that Wheels for Life will become as commonplace as a regular emergency transport service so that no woman’s life is cut short due to delays. As a lover of women’s stories, she wants her life to be in service of other women by implementing systems that preserve their lives and the futures of their children.
At Paukwa, we continue to be inspired by Kenyans showing up for Kenyans in the best way possible. Dr. Kariuki is among these stellar Kenyans and for that we salute her efforts and wish her more zeal to continue in her impactful work!