All form fields are required.
Your message has been succesfully sent and will be published after approval
Healthcare In Broader Terms
Like many developing countries, Nigeria has only rudimentary national health
statistics. Severe poverty is the root cause of death and disease. Widespread poverty
results in malnutrition, overcrowded living conditions, inadequate sanitation, and
contaminated water. The diseases that claim the majority of lives in Nigeria are
malaria, HIV and tuberculosis. The World Health Organisation estimates malaria
mortality for children under five years of age is 729 per 100,000. In 2004,
Nigeria’s Ministry of Health reported that malaria was the cause of one in three
deaths in children and one in ten deaths in pregnant women. The annual incidence
of tuberculosis is estimated at almost 300,000 and the disease causes more than
70,000 deaths each year.
Recent estimates from UNAIDS suggested that by the end of 2001, 3.5 million people
in Nigeria were infected with HIV/AIDS, the equivalent of 6% of the sexually active
population. The World Health Organisation estimates that the number of HIV/AIDS
cases in 2003 may have grown to 4.9 million by 2003. In the same year, an estimated
310,000 deaths occurred as a result of the virus. Furthermore, Nigeria is predicted
to lose 4.3 million lives to AIDS by 2015.
Long Term Needs
Building a Primary Healthcare Center will ensure that villagers have regular, reliable access to all forms of essential healthcare. Initially it will be managed by trained healthcare workers under the supervision of a public health medical consultant. Meanwhile capable locals can be recruited and sent to health/technology schools/colleges to acquire the skills for taking over the running of the center.