MIT Solve

Solution Overview

Solution Name:

ER International Foundation

One-line solution summary:

Malaria is the biggest threat to Maternal and Child Health in Nigeria, and The WELLNESS program aims to eradicating Malaria completely

Pitch your solution.

Nigeria is the leading country with the highest Malaria infections and mortality rate in the World. According to the WHO, there are over 100 million Malaria infections in Nigerian. In 2018, Nigeria recorded over 97,000 deaths consequent of Malaria and more than 60 per cent of this number are Children under 5, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers who reside in rural communities and slums.

Our solution is to provide these vulnerable population free access to quality medical care (including tests and treatment of Malaria), while simultaneously health-educating them on Malaria prevention. And this we hope to achieve by partnering private community clinics and hospital, to provide an all-year access to Malaria treatments for beneficiaries.

By creating the WELLNESS program, we target to enroll 1 million beneficiaries within the next 1 year, and reduce Malaria mortality rate by up to 10 per cent within same period.

Film your elevator pitch.

What specific problem are you solving?

In Nigeria, 1-in-10 persons die daily from Malaria (WHO 2018), and most of the casualties are pregnant women, breast-feeding mothers, and children under 5. According to the World Health Organization, it recorded 585,000 malaria deaths in 2010, and 91% of the number was recorded in Africa (WHO 2010), and the last 7 years have seen a dismal stagnation with regards to efforts to roll-back Malaria.

Nigeria currently has over 100 million active cases of Malaria, and most of these cases are among children under 5, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, who reside in rural communities and slums.

Our approach is to identify these communities susceptible to Malaria, create a beneficiaries base, enroll them for the WELLNESS program and ensure they get an all year health plan in a private clinic less than 1 kilometre from their community.

While tests and treatments are on-going, beneficiaries will be health-educated on Malaria prevention and given Mosquito nets, to enable them stay safe. Also, beneficiaries will be encouraged to visit the hospital quickly immediately they notice Malaria symptoms, instead of resorting self-medication.

What is your solution?

The WELLNESS PROGRAM is a collection of dedicated exercises to tackle the scourge of Malaria, and below are description of the project’s activities:

Mapping, Identification and Location of Most Vulnerable Communities to the Scourge of Malaria: WELLNESS PROGRAM has built a team of volunteers in FCT. In active collaboration with the Local Departments of Health, we will be able to identify and locate the most vulnerable communities to the malaria epidemic, with little or no access to quality healthcare, across Abuja. At the moment, our team has successfully identified and located 10 communities and the project has commenced in some.
Documentation and Enrollment of Beneficiaries: Beneficiaries whose data have been captured are enrolled into the WELLNESS PROGRAM, and are issued Personal Unique Code (PUC) with information on the closest partnering hospitals to their locality (we partner with hospitals that are less than a kilometres to benefiting communities; and in areas where private hospitals are not close, our volunteers set up a bi-weekly medical outfit within the benefiting communities, to enable proper consultations, testing, and treatments of Malaria. The PUC enables hospitals to verify who is a beneficiary and who is not, by logging to our website to verify the code.

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

Our target population are Children under 5, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, who are resident in rural communities and slums, and lack access to basic quality medical care. It is fact that this population are most vulnerable to the scourge of Malaria, as such, we provide them a one year access to quality malaria treatment, while educating them on preventive measures to fight Malaria.

Visits to some of the benefiting communities has allowed us see the avoidable measures to stem Malaria. An example is a small village outside of Abuja, called Yimi. The village accommodates almost 2 thousand persons and has a lot of overgrown bushes and lots of gutters with stagnant water. In such cases, we encourage residents to come and and clear such environments, and we join them to do it. These are some of the preventive measures we preach as part of the WELLNESS program. We also encourage our target beneficiaries not to self-medicate when they notice symptoms of Malaria, and that is why we made the project a one year free access to quality medical care.

Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Expand access to high-quality, affordable care for women, new mothers, and newborns

Explain how the problem, your solution, and your solution’s target population relate to the Challenge and your selected dimension.

In 2018, the World recorded 405,000 deaths resulting from Malaria. 67% of these deaths, representing 272,000 deaths, were among children under 5 years of age. 94% of the deaths occurred in Africa, with Nigeria atop with 24%. 39% of the 11 million pregnancies exposed to Malaria infection in sub-Saharan Africa occurred in Nigeria and DR Congo. (WHO World Malaria Report 2019).

A one-time treatment will achieve little in curtailing the scourge of Malaria, since very little can be done immediately to establish a long-term Malaria preventive approach. That is why we created a year-long access to medical care with sensitization.

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?

Abuja, Nigeria

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Growth: An organization with an established product, service, or business model rolled out in one or, ideally, several communities, which is poised for further growth

Who is the primary delegate for your solution?

George Abou Jaoude