We are a team of diasporans that is taking medical outreach to the community from which we came, in collaboration with local providers. This makes us unique because we have the skills and cultural awareness to deal with the patient population. What we do is to provide wide range of medical services in a rural setting where a significant number of the population don't have medical services. We screen, diagnose, treat, and educate both patients and community health workers, and refer patients for further evaluation and treatment in the big population center.
Our previous visits have led to the discovery of pre-cancerous cervix conditions in women, who were then referred to a specialist hospital for further evaluation and treatment. We have performed cataract extraction that have restored visions for patients that made them to live independently and freeing their loved ones from becoming permanent caregivers. We provided prescriptions glasses that led to some patients living a more meaningful life. While we are there, we can intervene quickly to an acute event that have the potential of killing the patient without intervention. An example in one of other medical outreaches, a schoolboy who came to our mission site with his grandmother in 2021, complaining of severe abdominal pain. Our providers were able to diagnose his condition using the ultrasound that was available to us, and our providers performed emergency surgery. If his appendix had ruptured the outcome could have been severe.
The under-served and underprivileged in the rural part of southern Nigeria are the people who will benefit from this project. These are people who cannot afford prescription that is less than $1 to save their lives. The income per capita in this region is below the international poverty level as defined by the United Nations and World Bank. We chose this population because we were born there and wanted to make a difference in the lives of our people.
The expected impact is educating the population. Plus mitigation, how to prevent or improve health outcomes such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer, oral health.
In addition to having educational session, we will distribute educational materials and deploy the community healthcare workers to continue to disseminate the health education through community outreach.
Other expected impact includes sometimes saving life or a catastrophic outcome for the patient. Our de-worming program helps reduce parasitic infection in the population. The corrective glasses we provide not only improve the quality of life, but in some cases, it brings about improved economic benefit because they become engaged productively.
On behalf of Amaibima Foundation, I want to thank Doximity for their sponsorship to the medical outreach to Nigeria from October 16-20, 2023
The medical outreach for 2023 was held in Buguma, a village in Southern Rivers-state of Nigeria where there is no functional hospital, where people are so poor they cannot afford medication for less than a dollar.
We saw about 2,100 patients over 5 days.
We educated people on oral health, lifestyle and dietary modification to prevent diabetes and hypertension. We dispensed free medications for diabetes, hypertension, ulcers, malaria etc. We performed surgeries for Cataract extraction, hernias, lipoma and myomectomies
The most impactful was the ability to inform and educate patient about our diagnostic findings even when were we not able to intervene so they can seek early intervention. Also, restoring sight to people who have being blinded with cataract for so many years.
