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IMF is planning to construct a 40-bed Children’s hospital and Medical center in Adavi Local Government area of Kogi state in Nigeria with the aim of improving access to quality and affordable health care in the state. The project plans to build community capacity on methods of disease prevention and support community development efforts towards disease prevention and extend its services through outreaches to inaccessible areas in need of healthcare. Sub-Saharan Africa has remained one of the areas in the world with the poorest health indices. A significant proportion of the world’s disease burden is borne by Africa and the poor countries of Latin America and Asia. Nigeria, which is the most populous African nation, accounted for 25% of Africa’s neglected tropical diseases . The poor healthcare system in the country has been a major contributing factor to the poor health indices that prevail. Other factors influencing the disease burden are poverty, housing, undeveloped rural areas, lack of adequate sanitation facilities and poor access to potable water. Though Nigeria has made numerous attempts at making reforms to the healthcare system in the last 40 years, it is yet to chart a clear and coordinated path to achieving universal healthcare, thus access to care has remained a huge problem.
Kogi State, located in North Central Nigeria has a population of over 3.5 million people. The main occupation of the state is agriculture; cultivating cash and food crops. The healthcare system is plagued with the same problems as those at the national level. As of 2008, there were 1029 (1 tertiary, 50 secondary, 833 public primary and 246 private) healthcare facilities (81% are primary healthcare facilities) which are in a state of disrepair and underfunded. Eighty percent (80%) of the primary healthcare facilities are health posts that only offer out-patient services and no maternal health services. There exists a shortage of medical personnel with a ratio of 1 doctor to 59,697 patients. This ratio is below the national average of 1 doctor to 25,641 patients.
Although the infant and under five mortality rates of 66 and 100 deaths per 1000 live births in North Central Nigeria is lower than the National average (69 and 128 respectively) , there still remains a huge gap in availability of health services for children. There is only one health institution in the state that offers specialized pediatric services.
Over the last few years, IMF has carried out health outreaches in Umuahia in Abia state, Lokoja in Kogi state, and Basita in Kwara state. Through such activities, it has developed a network of contacts with key stakeholders in government and within the health sector. As a result, the organization was able to purchase an estate that would accommodate a hospital of the size aforementioned. With the mission of the hospital — to provide an encounter with Christ through Catholic healthcare missions — it our belief that this project can fill the needs of specialized pediatric and maternal care, subsidized and/or free health services for the indigent and improved access to quality health care for the population of Kogi state.
The hospital is being built by the International Missionary Foundation (IMF) at the initial cost of $264,000. It will be built in three phases, managed by the religious Sisters in Nigeria. This hospital will be one of the significant legacies of IMF’s global apostolate. As a humanitarian response to the poor health indices affecting women and children and the high burden of health financing on the poor, the proposed hospital will provide affordable services to these communities and free services to the poor.
