Ugandan bikers abandon motorcycles after colleague, Dr Stephen Asiimwe dies in Tanzania crash

Friends and fellow bikers of Ugandan physician Dr Stephen Asiimwe have been left shaken after a truck knocked him dead during a motorcycle trip in Tanzania.

Asiimwe, a physician, epidemiologist and public health researcher, died in Tanga Region on Monday, September 21, 2026. He was riding with members of the Free Bikers and Ride Safe group when the crash occurred. 

By Tuesday afternoon, his body was being transported by road from Tanzania back to Uganda.

The tragedy has disrupted the group's return journey. While some riders have chosen to ride their motorcycles back home, several others are reported to have been too shaken to continue on two wheels.

Some have opted to return using public transport through Nairobi, Kenya. Others are travelling with Asiimwe's body as it makes the journey home.

The group had left Uganda on September 16 and travelled through Nairobi to Tanga. Asiimwe was the team leader. 

His death has hit both Uganda's medical community and the country's biking fraternity.

At the time of his death, Asiimwe served as an honorary senior lecturer at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST). He was also programme director of the MUST-Massachusetts General Hospital Global Health Collaborative. 

His work covered clinical and population health research. He was involved in research on HIV prevention, lung health, air pollution, ageing, cognitive impairment and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Massachusetts General Hospital describes him as a physician-scientist who had worked in clinical practice and later concentrated on population health and research. He had previously served as executive director of Integrated Community Based Initiatives and was involved with the Kabwohe Clinical Research Centre. 

MUST and its global health partners mourned Asiimwe as a researcher and mentor whose work had made an impact on the institution.

His death carries a painful irony. On June 8, Asiimwe wrote about road fatalities after losing his nephew Arnold in a crash.

"As a public health practitioner, it hurts so much when you see preventable deaths."

He lamented the dangers posed by roads and drivers and questioned why preventable deaths continued to claim lives.

Three months later, he died on the road himself.

Friends have remembered him as a committed researcher, mentor and passionate biker. One colleague said they had discussed plans to collaborate on research into non-communicable diseases in western Uganda only two days before his death.