Health Screening for 12 villages in Rural Nigeria

ACHI 2022 MEDICAL OUTREACH

The 2022 medical outreach was a year of testing of our passion and what we believe in the life of others and the actual need of the population we serve. The absence of this program for two years due to COVID-19 really brought to light the effectiveness of this program in the lives of the indigenes of Amakohia, Umugolo, and Avutu and its environs in Imo State Nigeria. We as an organization are in constant thought and plan on how to extend this program to the rest of the communities in the continent of Africa and not just Nigeria because their stories are same from country to country. The lack of access to health care is a common occurrence in other countries we have had the opportunities to visit. One thing that all these countries have in come is their dependence on the government for all aspect of health care services, and the fact that the citizens are very poor and have no means of paying for health care services. The governments in these countries do not have a health care system in place for its citizens. And this poses a huge problem in country of Nigeria where there is limited or no access to health care by its citizens, mostly the ones in the rural areas.

During this concluded medical outreach we discovered that this program has really made an impact in the life of many in the rural areas. We have many people travel from other states and local governments to attend the program. Our annual program serves as physical exams for the attendees and at this same time a means of fishing out cases of diabetics and hypertensive. Our main goal is to identify the individuals with chronic diseases (diabetes and hypertension) to be enrolled in our chronic disease management module. During this outreach every condition identified is treated with adequate medications and treatments.

AVUTU COMMUNITY: We set out to the village of Avutu in Obowo LGA for a three day outreach that started on 11/22/2022 through 11/24/2022. During the outreached, we screened 763 adults for various illnesses and saw 250 children. The children were all dewormed of intestinal worms and given health talk on personal hygiene including oral care. Toothpaste and toothbrushes were given to every kid that came to the program with their parents. This village is being sponsored by Paschal Nwokocha’s family and Fr. Gerald Njoku foundation annually.   

AMAKOHIA COMMUNITY: This village house’s our Resource center and serves as the venue for the annual outreach and the maintenance program for Ihitte/Uboma LGA and other communities around. We were at this location for two days; from December 12/02/22 through 12/03/22.  During the outreached, we screened 708 adults for various illnesses and saw 209 children. The children were all dewormed of intestinal worms and given health talk on personal hygiene including oral care. Toothpaste and toothbrushes were given to every kid that came to the program with their parents.  

UMUGOLO COMMUNITY: : We set out to the village of Umugolo in Ehime Mbano LGA, for a two day outreach that started on 11/29/2022 through 11/30/2022. During the outreached, we screened 730 adults for various illnesses and saw 159 children. The children were all dewormed of intestinal worms and given health talk on personal hygiene including oral care. Toothpaste and toothbrushes were given to every kid that came to the program with their parents.

SUMMARY: The mission was concluded on the 3^rd of December after which we were faced with sorting the cards and identifying the ones will be enrolled in the ongoing maintenance program that centers on monitoring of blood glucose, blood pressures and medication management and supply.

We observed a great increase in the number of people living with diabetes and hypertension. The two years gap in the annual outreach program due to COVID was also a contributing factor to this surge. This has really helped to show our donors and supporters the need and effectiveness of this program. We are hoping more funding and supports to extend this program to more communities. The number of individuals in the maintenance program has gone from 450 to 1,116 this year. This means increase in the needed medications and medical supplies.