( CNN ) -- Mambwe Kaemba fastens her helmet , pulls on her gloves and rides her red Yamaha motorcycle out of the courtyard of the Ministry of Health . She has already done the daily checks on her motorcycle . Yes , the chain is adjusted correctly , she has fuel and oil . She 's now set for a day vaccinating newborns . Her journey will take her over an unmade , potholed track that she has been trained to navigate with ease on her little bike . Kaemba is a health worker in Southern Province , Zambia . She serves about 6,000 people spread over a 20 kilometer area . The fact that she has any kind of transport at all marks her out as being very unusual . When we first met health workers like Kaemba , they told us that when they did n't have a bike -- which was most of the time -- or , when they have a bike and that it had broken down -- almost always -- they could n't do the job they had been trained for . The health workers who serve rural communities in Africa are some of the most dedicated people in the world . They do n't earn much money and often have to live hundreds of miles away from their families . They know that there are people in remote villages who need their help and , when they ca n't reach them , it 's a big burden for them to carry . Often they will walk . Walk for hours at a time . In the sun or rain , across tough terrain , carrying whatever they can manage . They arrive exhausted , knowing that they do not have long before they must return home . It was frustrating to see health workers like Kaemba unable to do their jobs , and women and children who struggle to walk for miles to reach a health center when they get sick . There were motorcycles and ambulances that were broken and rusting , simply because no one was trained on how to look after them properly . This was 20 years ago . The situation was unacceptable and made us angry . It is why we re-mortgaged our home and gave up our careers to start Riders for Health . We took big risks to develop an organization that would try to change the status quo . We knew we could make a difference . It would involve people getting their hands dirty and dealing with spanners and spark plugs and things not normally associated with health care . But this was just as important as investing billions of dollars in developing a new vaccine . Because if the vaccine never reaches the child , what good is it ? We started working with our friends and colleagues in the world of motorcycles . To this day , they continue to support our work . We also began working with ministries of health in African countries to put in place technicians , systems for delivering replacement parts and fuel , and training health workers how to look after their own bikes . For programs to be sustainable , they have to have their roots in the local communities . So all our program teams are led and staffed by local people . Riders for Health now has programs in seven countries , transforming health care for 14 million people . This is not charity -- it is a partnership between governments and an organization that can help them to better serve their people . The programs are designed so our partners , including ministries of health , pay for our services . By covering the full cost of running their vehicles , even at a not-for-profit rate , it means countries and their health workers are never without transport . They can budget for it accordingly , knowing exactly how much it will cost . For Kaemba , it means she can do her job well . Health workers like her can now reach far more people . And because they no longer have to walk so much they can spend more time with the people they are caring for . She might only be one woman , with one bike , but Kaemba is a symbol for health care across Africa . If every health worker had access to reliable transport we could reach every man , woman and child . We could transform lives and end deaths from the preventable diseases that kill millions of people each year . We could make sure health care reaches everyone , everywhere . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Andrea Coleman and Barry Coleman .
Andrea and Barry Coleman : Health workers in rural areas need help . Coleman : Without reliable medicine , they could n't reach and care for the sick . If every health worker had a working bike , we could transform lives , they say . Colemans : We could reduce deaths from the preventable diseases that kill millions .