By Joy Ojochogwu Etubi | Project Leader
Dear Donors,
For a widow raising children alone, getting sick can bring more than physical pain. It can mean losing the little income she earns, being unable to care for her children, and facing a hospital bill she has no way to pay.
She may wake up with a fever and still go to work.
She may live with high blood pressure without regular check-ups.
She may notice that one of her children is sick but wait another day, hoping the child will get better because there is no money for a hospital visit.
For families living this reality, healthcare can feel like something meant for people who can afford it.
Nigeria continues to face a heavy burden from healthcare costs paid directly by families. According to the World Health Organization, households paid about 72% of the country's current health expenditure directly from their own pockets in 2023. For a widow with little or no regular income, an unexpected illness can quickly become a financial crisis.
This is the reason behind our project.
With support from our donors, we want 1,500 widows and orphans to be able to receive medical care without facing the cost alone. The project will help pay for hospital care, medicines, medical tests, regular check-ups, and treatment for illnesses such as malaria and common infections.
But we have also learned that providing health coverage alone may not reach everyone.
Some widows and orphans live in communities where travelling to a healthcare facility for registration, medical assessment, or treatment can be difficult. Distance, transportation costs, disability, poor roads, and financial hardship can prevent the very people who need help most from reaching available services.
So we are taking care to them.
Our medical personel will conduct mobile medical visits in communities and homes where needed. This will allow us to identify people who may otherwise remain unseen, provide basic medical checks and treatment, and connect those requiring further care with appropriate health facilities.
Sometimes the first step may be as simple as checking a widow's blood pressure.
Sometimes it may be testing a sick child for malaria.
And sometimes it may be sitting with a mother who has carried the responsibility of her family alone and letting her know that, this time, she does not have to face her medical bills alone.
To our donors, thank you.
Your support is helping us build a bridge between people who need healthcare and the care they cannot afford on their own.
If this project speaks to you, please share it with your family and friends. You can also start an individual fundraiser and invite others to help us provide health coverage for more widows and orphans.
No widow should have to ignore her own illness because her children need to eat. And no orphan should remain sick because there is no one to pay the medical bill.
Thank you for standing with them.
With gratitude,
Joy O. Etubi
By Joy Ojochogwu Etubi | Project Leader
By Joy Ojochogwu Etubi | Project Leader
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