Over 500 women and children have received free medical care through a medical outreach organized by the Rotary Club in the Guidna community of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The President of the Rotary Club of Abuja Central Business District (CBD), Rotarian Aisha Ali, made this announcement during the medical outreach event in Abuja on Wednesday.
Coordinated by 12 Rotary Clubs within District 9125 in Abuja, in collaboration with Silver Cross Hospital, the outreach aimed to address a core aspect of Rotary International’s mission – providing top-notch healthcare to vulnerable mothers and children.
Ali emphasized that the outreach was a direct response to the Rotary’s global priority of offering high-quality healthcare services to underprivileged mothers and children. The Rotary Clubs collectively decided to offer medical assistance to individuals within less privileged and vulnerable demographics who may not have the means to afford regular healthcare services.
She further explained that the primary objective of the program was to enhance the availability of quality healthcare, ensuring that both mothers and children have equal access to the resources necessary for a healthy future.
“An estimated 5.9 million children under the age of five die each year because of malnutrition, inadequate health care, and poor sanitation; all of which can be prevented,” she said.
According to her, Rotary provides education, immunizations, birth kits, and mobile health clinics.
” Women are taught how to prevent mother-to-infant HIV transmission, how to breast feed, and how to protect themselves and their children from diseases,” she added.
In her remarks, Mrs Lovina Okorn-Ntui, the District Chair, Maternal and Child Health Committee, District 9125, said that the outreach was to fulfill the area of focus as it concerns maternal and child health.
According to Okorn-Ntui, it also focuses on safe delivery for women, safe breastfeeding for women and their children as well as healthy living for women and children.
“We will be enlightening them on safe delivery, issues surrounding safe breastfeeding as well as its importance.
“We will be giving them treatment for preventable diseases such as malaria fever, other common diseases that affect women and children, among others.
“We decided to come here because this is an indigent community and what Rotary preaches is to go to indigent communities to bridge the gap,” she said
In addition to mosquito nets, the beneficiaries were provided with various services, including free scan services, deworming for children, eye examinations, and distribution of eyeglasses, among other offerings, according to her.
Dr. Patrick Ezie, the Chief Medical Director of Silver Cross Hospital, expressed that the purpose of this initiative was to extend support to the impoverished and disadvantaged members of the community.
“We came together and decided that we need to flag-off this kind of intervention for women in rural communities because we identify that a lot of these women are not able to get the type of care that they want for basic problems,” he said.