According to 2023 World Health Organization (WHO) data, Nigeria is occupied by approximately 227 million people and about 14.9 million have access to health coverage. This suggests that less than 10% of the population will obtain care when they need it. Lagos is the country’s most populous city and among the top 10 fastest growing cities in the world. Many people leave their villages to find work and a better life in the city. As such, Lagos is a melting pot of sub-cultures and an avenue for cultural exchanges. Consequentially, mass urbanization increases the risk of preventable diseases including sexually transmitted infections and vector borne illnesses. Therefore, access to medical care and health education coupled with thorough environmental policies are essential to maintaining population health.
I plan to travel to Nigeria to work alongside medical practitioners at Redeemer’s Health Centre in Redemption City in Ogun State. I will serve underserved communities along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the busiest roadway in West Africa. By volunteering in this community as a family medicine resident, I will work under the guidance of an attending physician, to manage acute and chronic diseases across a diverse patient population in the clinic and hospital setting. With my passion for health education, I will encourage positive behavioral changes to prevent diseases and improve health.
Nigeria produces thousands of physicians annually but loses a proportion to mass emigration and “brain drain”. WHO, 2022 data estimate a 1:3000 physician to patient ratio, which I suspect contributes to the low life expectancy and high maternal-fetal mortality. Therefore, my presence in Nigeria will help alleviate the physician shortage crisis, and give more patients access to care. Additionally, as the facility trains medical residents, I will build my network and form partnerships for future collaborations and medical outreaches to continue the impact as a medical missionary.
Nigeria is a religious nation with many believing in spiritual sources of healing. As such, many will not access medical care when needed. Moreover, the high cost associated with care also serves as a deterrence. Healthcare is therefore a last resort in many instances.
As an Afro- Caribbean woman from the diaspora, I want to serve communities world-wide as part of medical mission teams, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, to break the cycle of poverty, low life expectancy, and cultural inferiority. I believe that medicine is an avenue that can be used to educate, equip and effect change. I read a statement while in college that said, “People are sick because they are poor, and they become poorer as they become sicker”. By bridging the gap between sickness and health, as medical providers, we not only become healers of the body, but we have the potential to become healers of minds and destinies. Medicine is transformational, and as we prolong life with the increasing aging population, we also give people a chance to change their socio-economic status.
I chose to serve this population because of my familiarity with the Redeem Christian Church of God International that owns and operates Redeemer’s Health Centre. For many years, I sat under the tutelage of the general overseer who offered televised spiritual wisdom and emotional healing during difficult seasons of my academic journey, including while in medical school and residency. Serving at the affiliated hospital will give me a chance to give back to the organization that gave me hope and encouragement when I needed it. Furthermore, my great- great- maternal grandfather was transported from Sierra Leon to Jamaica on one of the last transatlantic slave ships. With the connectedness of my ancestral history to the African continent, I embrace the opportunity to serve communities across Africa as my way of paying homage to my forefathers, respecting the journey and honoring the legacy of hope and freedom.
This experience will impact the providers I will work with, the patients I will encounter, and my practice of medicine. I will reduce provider patient load, minimize burnout, and increase free time for wellness and self-care. Patients will benefit from the fresh perspective I will bring to their treatment plan as well as from my informal lessons on lifestyle medicine that can enhance treatment compliance and improve health.
The impact on my practice of medicine will be even more far-reaching. I anticipate managing a variety of disease presentations including tropical and vector borne diseases that I may not encounter in the US. I will learn translatable skills across the specialties I will rotate.
Redeemer’s Health Centre serves hundreds of patients daily, including the elderly. They rely on paper charts without the advancement of electronic health records, order sets, or stream-lined referrals and follow-ups.
I trained in Family Medicine because I want to care for patients of all ages “from the womb to the tomb”. As a National Health Service Corp scholar, I plan to work in the state of Georgia in medically underserved communities at Federally Qualified Health Centers. These centers are strategically located in resource-poor communities with medically complex patients and a large geriatric patient population. My service in Nigeria will broaden my medical repertoire, expose me to some of the realities of working with medically disenfranchised communities, help me develop strategies to handle large patient volume, and equip me with the tools needed to serve the expanding geriatric population in the US. The experience will enhance my critical thinking skills, expand my differential diagnosis and present savvy ways to treat patients.
The Doximity scholarship will therefore give me a chance to better hone my skills as I impact the nation of Nigerian and reflexively the communities I will serve locally, nationally and globally as a champion for health and wellness.
