Health Screening for 12 villages in Rural Nigeria

The 2016 ACHI medical mission that was conducted in the month of November was very successful. Total 8 outreaches were conducted in 4 villages this year. We saw increase in the number of individuals living with diabetes and hypertension. The number rises every year due to the increase in the awareness of the program and the effectiveness of the medications used in the management of both diabetes and hypertension. The economic situation in Nigeria has led to most people that could afford their medications are no longer able to afford them due to none payment of salaries to the workers and the retirees. We are seeing people coming from the city to the rural areas to get help with their medications. We screened 2075 adults and dewormed 1116 children during the outreach. We turned many people away due to limited supplies and finances. We could do more if we have needed assistance. The effective of the program is being measured with the number of diabetics and hypertensives who are still coming to the problem every year without any complications or decrease in the onset of complication. The year round maintenance program continues and has proven to be very, the villagers are happy and praying for this to be continued because they have no other means of getting needed help in the management of their chronic diseases. We wish to thank You our donors for your continued support of this organization and for believing in the work that we do in the rural villages where there is no access to health care.

African community health initiative is going to Nigeria this month for its annual health screening in four main communities. We are starting on the 15th of November through the 27th. We are anticipating to see more people this year than usual due to the deplorable living condition in Nigeria and the fact is that the country is in a great period of recession and have no idea on how to get out of it. The sad part to this is we are not financially equipped to take on the influx of the population we are going to see and we will end up turning them away. 

The toilet facility is now completed and in use. We are still working on making a borehole available at the site to the able to maintain the place and make drinking water available to the community around the resource center. We continue to need your support in the work we do. Our goal is to attend to every individual that make their way to resource center in need of health care.  

African community health Initiative is planning our annual outreach for November 2016.  Over the years ACHI have focused on chronic disease management in rural areas of Nigeria where there is no access or limited access to health care. Our goal of educating people with chronic and endemic health condition on the disease process and how to self-manage their conditions, has really improved the lives of those individuals. We are seeing people with good glucose control, healed diabetic ulcers, decrease in the progression of complications and no complications, and their A1cs coming down to normal and some within normal range. Due to the economic situation in Nigeria, we are going to face a lot of challenges in terms crowd. Lots of people are not being paid their salaries, and the ones with diabetes and hypertension cannot afford their medications anymore. People are already coming to access the maintenance program for medications but are turned away because we barely have enough for the people in the program. We are hoping for more donations to be able to take on the task ahead of us this year. We take you for your support and looking forward for more support and your prayers for the people of Nigeria during this trial period     

African community health Initiative vision of making the Resource Center a central place for screening, educating the public on chronic diseases management and a place for storage and distribution of medical supplies for the needy is still in progress. Due to the high volume of people coming the center for maintenance program, we saw the need for a toilet facility at this place. This work is being done and still need more funding to complete it and put it into use. With the assistance of Friends of Nigeria organization; whose members are peace corps volunteers that went to Nigeria in the 1960s. They funded the building of the toilet facility which is nearly completed. For the toilet to be used and kept clean, we need a source of water supply, which could be done by digging a well. We have conducted a supply to see the level they have to reach before they get water and the cost of having a well. We want to thank all our previous donors and looking for more donors to help us achieve this goal. We cannot do it without your help     

This year’s maintenance program is facing some challenges due financial difficulties. We have been averaging total of 150 people per village during each visit. The reports coming from the three villages shows improvement in the glycemic levels for the diabetics and lowered blood pressure levels for the hypertensives. They are also reporting lots of people coming around for help that were not originally in the follow up program because they were not around during the outreach program in November. Due to the financial difficulties, we are having problems in keeping up with the medication supplies and the test strips for the blood glucose. Also transportation cost is higher and takes up some of the money. The program is yielding good result by reducing the number of deaths in these villages as a result on diabetes and hypertension, improving the life of individuals with these conditions, preventing and decreasing the rate of developing complications. This program will not be possible without support, and we continue to need support to be able to sustain this program. We hope to be able to provide sustained services to these individuals who are totally dependent on the program for their wellbeing  

ACHI has completed another fruitful outreach this year. We cannot thank our donors enough for believing in us and our mission of bringing  healthcare to the needy and where there is limited or no access to healthcare. This year's outreach was delayed due to financial constrain and family activities. But it was a very fulfilling year in terms of number of people identified with diabetes and hypertension who are getting the much help we could render with our limited resources. There were lots of testimonies from the receipiants on how there blood pressures and blood glucose levels were being managed and controlled in most cases with the year round maintenance program. The year maintenance program is in place to monitor their blood pressure and blood sugar levels and make medications available free to them. There is no way these individuals can afford to sustain themselves without the program in place. All donated funds goes towards procurement of medications and medical supplies like test strips and blood glucose monitors.

The number of communities served keeps going down due to lack of sponsorship and limited funding. We were able to screen 1804 adults  this year. The number of people with hypertension is 797, diabetics 85, both diabetes and hypertension 58, then other disease conditions are 864 this includes malaria, GI problems, eye problems. We gave out about 700 pairs of eyeglasses during the program, and dewormed 320 kids. We say a big THANK YOU to everyone that donated, thinking of donating , who prayed for us during this period. We continued to need your support and so we can reach more people. We are in great need of Insulin and test strips for our diabetics. We wishing you all a better 2016