Grassroots outreach from the driver’s seat
At dusk on 26 December, the forecourt of Total Énergies’ station in downtown Brazzaville briefly resembled a medal ceremony. Amid the hum of engines, twenty taxi drivers were each handed a prepaid fuel card worth 15,000 CFA francs, a symbolic reward for having spent three intense weeks discussing diabetes with every passenger who stepped into their vehicles. The challenge, christened “Taxi Bomoyi” – taxi of life in Lingala – was orchestrated by the non-governmental organisation Marcher, courir pour la cause in partnership with private firms. Its purpose was straightforward yet ambitious: harness the ubiquity of cabs to spread preventive advice on a disease that silently affects more than 6 % of Congolese adults according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF 2023).
“Dear drivers, these cards embody gratitude for the service you rendered to life,” declared project manager Princia Oponguy as she addressed the assembled chauffeurs. “You are no longer simply urban transport operators; you have become community health ambassadors.” Her words captured the philosophy underpinning the pilot: public-health messaging need not remain confined to clinics or televised spots; it can be woven into the everyday choreography of a city’s mobility.
A mounting burden that demands inventive responses
Although infectious illnesses continue to dominate headlines in Central Africa, non-communicable diseases are rising quietly but inexorably. The World Health Organization lists diabetes among the top ten causes of mortality in the Republic of Congo, responsible for an estimated 2,200 deaths in 2022 (WHO country profile 2023). Contributory factors include rapid urbanisation, increasingly sedentary lifestyles and wider access to calorie-dense processed foods. In Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire, recent studies by the national Institute of Public Health reveal prevalence peaks of 8 % in some neighbourhoods, a rate comparable to figures observed in more industrialised economies.
Against this backdrop, conventional awareness campaigns often struggle to reach audiences beyond hospital waiting rooms or social-media users. The Taxi Bomoyi concept therefore leverages what public-health specialists term “positive deviance”: using ordinary yet strategic actors – in this case, cabbies who complete dozens of short journeys daily – to normalise conversations about glucose levels, hydration and physical activity. Each driver received a concise training module, including practical demonstrations on reading blood-sugar pamphlets and responding to basic passenger questions.
Metrics behind the medals
From 4 to 24 December, 347 drivers registered for the challenge. After every ride, passengers could text a dedicated short code to evaluate the clarity and courtesy of the message delivered. These crowdsourced votes, logged and anonymised by the local start-up DataWize, produced a ranking based on frequency and quality of interactions. Over 9,500 messages were analysed, indicating that one in three customers actively engaged with the topic – a promising conversion rate for a first-time experiment, observers say.
Isaac Mbengui, who finished among the top twenty, recounted how he adapted his pitch during rush-hour traffic: “I kept it simple – drink water, walk whenever you can, know your family history. Many clients thanked me; some even asked where to get screened.” His testimony illustrates the value of peer-to-peer language stripped of medical jargon.
Public–private synergy in the capital
While the project sprang from civil-society initiative, its success hinged on a constellation of partners. Total Énergies donated the fuel cards; the telecom operator Airtel provided the SMS platform; municipal authorities facilitated access to taxi ranks and ensured that messages conformed with current health-communication guidelines. Speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Health, Dr Arsène Ngouelondele welcomed the approach as “an eloquent example of the multi-sectoral collaboration envisioned in the National Plan for Non-Communicable Diseases 2022-2026”, underscoring that prevention “must meet citizens where they live and work”.
Crucially, the campaign maintained political neutrality while complementing governmental objectives such as the ongoing nationwide screening drive launched earlier this year. Observers note that by aligning with public strategy without depending exclusively on state budgets, Taxi Bomoyi exemplifies the principle of shared responsibility that undergirds the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
Beyond Brazzaville: scaling and sustainability
Project president Rodrigue Dinga Mbomi hinted at an expansion phase slated for the first half of 2024. Plans include equipping selected vehicles with glucometers to offer voluntary capillary blood-sugar tests at taxi stands and integrating digital dashboards that gamify drivers’ health-messaging performance. Discussions are also under way with the Pointe-Noire urban community, where port-related night-shifts present specific risk factors for metabolic disorders.
Financial sustainability remains a central consideration. The organisers are exploring carbon-credit schemes – given that healthier lifestyles could translate into reduced emissions through active transport – and micro-franchising models that would allow drivers to advertise vetted healthy snacks while disseminating medical advice. International donors have shown interest, including the French Development Agency’s “Innovate4Health” fund.
Health economists caution that pilot enthusiasm must be matched by rigorous evaluation. “If the intervention lowers average fasting glucose in a statistically significant sample, then cost-effectiveness ratios may justify broader roll-out,” argued Prof. Irène Makoumba of Marien-Ngouabi University, who is designing a longitudinal study to that effect.
A modest card that carries a larger message
For now, the shimmering plastic rectangles presented on 26 December carry weight beyond their 15,000-CFA face value. They signal a community’s acknowledgement of labour re-purposed toward the collective good. In a society where informal-sector workers often remain on the fringes of formal health systems, Taxi Bomoyi offers an alternative narrative – one in which solidarity travels by meter, during the short yet meaningful journeys that criss-cross the capital each day.
The drivers dispersed into the evening traffic, honking in unison. Their reward was tangible fuel, yet equally a renewed sense of civic purpose. As Brazzaville’s streets lit up, so did the possibility that the next public-health breakthrough may arrive not in a white-coat laboratory, but in the familiar rumble of a green-and-yellow cab turning the corner.