African Changemakers, others partner to support sickle cell patients

In the bid to support individuals living with sickle cell amidst this economic down time, African Changemakers, Nigeria Chapter in partnership with Sickle Cell Advocacy Initiative (SAMI) and Health Volunteers Naija recently held a one day medical outreach to support survivors with free medical consultation.

Tinuola Aina, the president, African Changemakers, Nigeria chapter, said the medical outreach is geared towards assisting Nigerians in need of medical support, but cannot afford it because of financial constrains.

“As a socially responsible institution, we realise that a large number of Nigerians, especially the middle and low class citizens, cannot afford basic medical care due to strain on the finances of Nigerians caused by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and coupled with the recent inflation on goods and services in Nigeria,” said Aina.

According to her, the medical outreach was one of the numerous activities embarked on by the organisation this year. “As our way of giving back to the society, African Changemakers Nigeria Chapter decided to organise a medical outreach ensuring that beneficiaries have access to free medical consultations inclusive of medications and tests,” Aina stated.

Abdulbasith Akinyemi-Eshilokun, the executive director, Health Volunteers Naija, noted that sickle cell is on the increase in Nigeria, hence the need for the medical outreach organized through partnership aimed at providing medical supports to sickle cell patients.

“Sickle cell is a very great challenge in this part of the world. In fact Nigeria presently has the highest number of sickle cell birth in the world,” said Akinyemi-eshilokun.

According to him, a lot of people are still not aware of genotype matching, which has led to more sickle cell birth. This is why the outreach was setup to reach out to individuals with sickle cell, giving them free medical consultation and free drugs.

Kwansara Mira, a beneficiary of the medical outreach, in stating how the outreach has aided her said, “This initiative has really helped me. In the past, I regularly fall sick but ever since I came here I have been able to go through life regardless of my sickle cell genotype.

“With the help of the drugs they gave me and series of tests as well as lectures and counseling I have been able to joggle life together,” Mira said.

The African Changemakers Initiative has been in existence for over five years, as a non-profit organisation with a history of identifying and nurturing change making leaders, trained to be catalysts for transformation and social impact in their various communities.