Newsletters
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Strengthening the Health infrastructure

The Family Care Clinic in Ikota community of Lagos State is a pilot health initiative by Family Care Association, and serves as a primary health care center including consultation, HIV/AIDS screening and awareness, a pharmacy and out patient ward. Additionally, the clinic surgical theatre acts as a screening center for those who are in need of tertiary medical attention through providing ophthalmic, general and dental surgery. Read more

Family Care Incentive Program for Mothers with HIV/AIDS
Very few HIV positive mothers from the underprivileged strata of society realize that there is a way to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS to their unborn children. Family Care works in partnership with a local NGO in south-western Nigeria, that works closely with mothers who have HIV/AIDS, including providing much needed emotional and physical support for their families and the children whose lives have been torn apart by the disease.

Working together for the unborn child: Once an expectant mother is diagnosed with HIV/AIDS they are taken for registration, which starts them on the necessary course of treatment to prevent transmission to the child. We have found that most mothers are not even aware of what HIV/AIDS truly is, much less its devastating effect, tend to return to their villages and are not seen again until they come for anti-natal treatment—which means it is then too late.

A major challenge is that, due to this lack of awareness, an HIV-infected mother won’t realize the dire importance of turning up for the free treatments, not only for their babies’ sake but for theirs as well. To effectively motivate the mothers to show up for treatment, Family Care provides “incentive/care parcels” for those who attend. These parcels contain food supplements, vitamins, clothing and household items, etc.

The incentive/care parcels not only serve as an incentive, but the food items contained therein play an important part in boosting the immune system of the mother so that the treatment will prove successful. Each of the now many expectant mothers who attend regularly to receive their treatment is a success story in herself, because each one is passing on the greatest gift within their power to their unborn child—the gift of a HIV/AIDS-free life.

Family Care’s Free Health Care Projects

Amongst Family Care’s programs is free health care and consultation, which is provided to thousands nationwide who otherwise would not have an opportunity to receive such treatment. Adding to our health care efforts we have partnered with several rural clinics and endeavors that attend to the health care needs of the local populace.

The need for accessible health care in Nigeria’s rural areas has spurred on our efforts, which began in the 90’s, to reach out to remote communities via Family Care’s Free Health Care Projects. Over the years we have established relationships with scores of medical volunteers who are ready to accompany us to a remote community. They give of their time, skills and energy to extend a helping hand, be it a stethoscope to listen to patients’ maladies and offer relief, to major surgeries.

A typical Free Health Care Project runs for a week, but these large-scale projects are the result of months of planning, administration, logistics, volunteer recruitment and coordination. As the sites where the projects take place are usually rural and lack most or all infrastructural conveniences that one normally takes for granted, the coordinating team has their work cut out for them. Needless to say, when the very complex programs are successfully carried out and concluded without major setbacks, all who have participated with the health exercise can breathe a sigh of relief.

Before the team of sixty-five medical volunteers arrive at the project site and begin treating patients, a preliminary team travels well in advance to the chosen hospital. They ensure that it will serve the project’s purpose and be able to accommodate the throngs of villages that will inevitably arrive seeking care. Entire wards and gangways must be scrubbed to satisfaction, generators overhauled, medical equipment put in place and operating theatres sterilized, not to speak of bushes and shrubbery cleared to accommodate the masses! Traditional rulers and community leaders are made aware of the project in advance and town criers are sent to the four winds carrying their message, ensuring all are made aware of the soon to come team of doctors and with them the hopes of free health care.

As the project’s venue is being readied, the rest of Family Care’s coordinating team is busy undertaking the leviathan task of recruiting medical doctors, pediatricians, surgeons, dentists, opticians, ophthalmologists, pharmacists and logistical volunteers. This is perhaps the most challenging aspects of the free health care projects, as the volunteer team is recruited from many various and far flung towns and cities throughout the nation. Transportation by land, air or boat, and sometimes a combination of all three, is arranged for the large team of volunteers to be safely ferried to the target village. The complex logistics and communications between the coordinating team and volunteers takes a tremendous amount of perseverance and effort that finally results in a sizeable and well-rounded team eager and up to the task ahead.

Additionally, sponsorship for these initiatives is sought from large companies or government bodies to bear the bulk of the costly volumes of pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and logistics. Other members of the business community are also contacted to contribute funding, products and services to play their role in being part of the program.

When the project’s opening day arrives much of the work is already behind, but many challenges still lie ahead. At first, the patients start to trickle into the hospital at a manageable rate. Some happen to live in a close proximity to the hospital and take the opportunity to benefit from the program, while others come to see if the health care is, in fact, free and then return home to tell family and loved ones what they have seen and experienced. From the second day of the project until the last, the volume of people grows steadily, increasing to thousands more than can be accommodated by the medical team.

With added pressure from the throngs of people begging to be the next one to benefit from free health care, the entire team must run like a well-oiled machine to achieve maximum efficiency and reach all they can with quality health care. Working tirelessly from early morning until late at night, the medical volunteers summon all their physical, mental and spiritual resolve to do their part in making the project a success, while at the same time endeavoring to convey a message of hope and love to the many lives they touch.

The grateful villagers stand in lines awaiting attention from the volunteers. Those seeking treatment will first receive a patient card, which guarantees them the free health care. The patients will then have a chance to meet and tell a doctor, pediatrician, dentist or optician of their body’s complaints. After the diagnosis is made the patient is either sent to the pharmacy to collect their drug prescription, or if surgical attention is necessary, they are referred to the theatre team to be screened for surgery.

Gladys at left, from Bayelsa State, who had been suffering from lipoma condition for 6 years without medical attention.

A tired but relieved Gladys who is now about to return home after her operation and three days of post-opt treatment.

As the patients leave the hospital after benefiting from the program, they often thank the obviously overworked volunteers for coming to help them with the otherwise inaccessible and unaffordable health care. This is especially true of those who undergo life-altering surgeries, knowing full well that if the program hadn’t come to their village they may have continued to suffer with their condition indefinitely, resulting in a difficult and perhaps shortened life. By the time the project comes to a close, anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 people will have received free health care. For most it is an once-in-a-lifetime experience, that they pray will return in the not too distant future. Read more

The overwhelming feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment that comes to all the program’s volunteers is indescribable. Seeing lives saved, sight restored to the blind, strength returned to the weak and those treated joyously embracing their loved ones and turning to thank you, is priceless! Many medical volunteers comment that they had taken part in order to give, but realized that they had gained so much more in return, that in the end they cannot call their participation a sacrifice.

Local Health Care Initiatives
Family Care has also pioneered similar, though smaller, Health Care Initiatives that are aimed at a predetermined group of individuals, these programs being scaled down versions of the much larger Free Health Care Projects.

As an example, a team of six medical and coordinating volunteers may set off to give free dental care to the awaiting beneficiaries in an entire school or institution.

As is the case with most rural communities, affordable and accessible dental care is simply not otherwise available and in some cases we’ve found that many are not even aware of dentists or oral hygiene! This lack of awareness is clearly evident when the volunteer dentists and assistants sit their first patient down. To offer an extended solution to those receiving dental care, a lecture in daily oral hygiene habits is taught (and translated, or communicated by sign language, as the need may be). As a final touch, toothbrushes and toothpaste are given to each of the programs’ participants, along with the firm instructions that they should be used daily to avoid another encounter with the now much respected dentist!

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Sustainable Development

Over the years, Family Care Association has developed a range of capacity building initiatives that contribute to sustainable development. These initiatives teach knowledge and skills in business, research and communications, as well as strengthen the understanding of regional and sectarian considerations.

Medical Clinics
The Family Care Clinic in Ikota community of Lagos State is a pilot health initiative that serves as a primary health care center including consultation, HIV/AIDS screening and awareness, a pharmacy and out patient ward. Additionally, the clinic surgical theatre acts as a screening center for those who are in need of tertiary medical attention through providing ophthalmic, general and dental surgery.

Family Care is working towards a plan to replicate this initiative in all six geopolitical zones of the country. An outline of what beneficiaries of the subsidized health clinic will receive:

1. Consultation and treatment


2. Subsidized medication or free medication


3. Infant care and hygiene education


4. HIV/AIDS/STI screening, education, counseling and awareness


5. Screening for surgery


6. Tertiary medical attention through sponsored surgical operations


7. Dental treatment


8. Ophthalmic Care

Knowledge Networks

To ensure future sustainability and economic empowerment, knowledge networks must involve training young people and communities in network research and communications and provide micro credit schemes. Family Care recognizes that young people and their communities can and should take active roles in shaping their world.

Among the Family Care initiatives is the knowledge network approach, a foundational method to engage young people and selected communities in sustainable development research and communications.

The objectives of the IT/Computer training center initiatives are to create:

To this end, a pilot project in Enugu State was established, and the next is being planned in Lagos State. The IT/Computer training facility provides free Internet access and IT/Computer training courses to less privileged and handicapped youths. The center also offers the same courses and an Internet café to the general public at a subsidized rate; this supports and generates income for the IT/Computer training center. Besides improving the outlook for sustainable business practices and increasing individuals’ capacity and knowledge, it increases self-assuredness and confidence in the participants.

Through public-private partnerships, Family Care Association aims to turn targeted communities and underdeveloped urban areas into thriving, self-sustaining economies. Access to technology and education permanently improves the livelihoods of the population by raising literacy rates, creating income, providing access to government services, information technology and education.

Poultry Farms

Several poultry farms have been constructed around the country, each of these commencing operations after training for the recipients is concluded. The poultry farms, specializing in layers, broilers, cockerels and even turkeys in some instances, have been highly successful and welcomed. These farms provide income generation and economic empowerment for the communities, including orphanages, and homes for deaf and dumb youths, as well as centers for the disabled for whom they have been set up.

An additional benefit to the poultry farms is the nutritional supplements it provides toward the diet of the children/residents. Through proper budgeting and management, recipient communities, centers and homes are trained in finance and project management. This enables them to biannually turn over their initial investment of livestock, with profit to expand, as well as to retain a portion of the profit for their own use.

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Educational Development

It is the firm belief of Family Care Association that an adequate education, from the foundation stages of early primary through to secondary and high school, sets the tone for success and productivity in adult life. We further stress the importance of quality care and input for children from all walks of life, regardless of social status, background, ability and physical or financial challenges.

Family Care’s efforts in promoting educational development range from constructing/refurbishing schools, subsidizing teacher’s salaries, training the teacher/caretakers to providing text books, school stationary, furniture, wall posters, maps and other aids. Read more

Family Care holds teachers training seminars and workshops to ensure that the teachers and caregivers methods are up-to-date. During the workshops our educators work alongside the teachers to create teaching aids and materials. The seminars address topics such as: motivating children to learn, character building, establishing positive learning habits, self discipline and for secondary schools, drug prevention.

Through improving the quality of teaching, we improve the quality and level of learning. The introduction of supplementary curriculums that not only teach the core subjects or English, mathematics, science and social studies, but also moral, behavioral and social courtesies, will benefit young minds both now and in future interactions with others.

In addition to educational seminars, we provide training courses for parents and guardians. These courses address child development from early childhood until teenage-hood. We monitor the progress of our course attendees through home visitations, supplementary studies and workshops to assist their application of training techniques. To supplement these courses we make available reference material, books, CDs and DVDs to each moral development and many devotional/scholastic aids.

Many of our educational initiatives are aimed at the disadvantaged within centers for the blind and the physically handicapped, rural farming villages, orphanages and isolated communities. An effective way to maintain progress is to include the whole community in the educational program. This has been accomplished by not only offering scholastic training to children, but to all members of the community through providing adult literacy courses.

The targeted communities, on seeing our dedication to educational development, have responded by maintaining the structures and materials we have put in place. The communities themselves make certain that they are being efficiently used by ensuring consistent pupil attendance, thus promoting educational development at all levels for the entire community.

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Vocational Training

Vocational training provides the knowledge and experience to be industrious and skilled. Family Care courses presently provide hundreds of teenagers and young adults with tutoring and hands-on experience in the vocation of their choice. Most of our training courses run fulltime, five days per week, with other courses scheduled after school hours, collaborating with scholastic education to give the less-privileged an easier start in life. Read more

A cross-section of Vocational courses that have been established: