In a bold response to Nigeria’s deepening rural health crisis, Equitable Medicaid and Clinical Research (EMCR) has secured a substantial and sprawling 1,120 ft plot of land in Ogodo, along Egbeche Road in Ankpa Local Government Area of Kogi State, to build a charitable hospital targeting preventable deaths, maternal mortality, and disease outbreaks.
The initiative, spearheaded by Nigerian public health advocates Joy Ojochogwu Etubi and and Kadiri Ugbede-Ojo Dominic.
It seeks to address what the World Health Organisation (WHO) calls a “devastating inequity” in healthcare access across sub-Saharan Africa.
Nigeria accounts for nearly 20 per cent of global maternal deaths, with WHO data showing 814 women die per 100,000 live births a figure far exceeding the global average of 211.
Child mortality is equally dire: UNICEF estimates 1 in 8 Nigerian children die before age five, often from preventable causes like malaria, pneumonia, or diarrhea.
Rural regions bear the brunt of this crisis. In Kogi State, fewer than 3 per cent of health facilities offer basic emergency obstetric care, and villagers often trek hours by foot or motorcycle to reach clinics.
“This hospital isn’t just a building; it’s a rebellion against neglect.
“When a woman bleeds out during childbirth because there’s no doctor or blood bank, that’s not a tragedy. It’s a policy failure,” said founder Etubi a nurse-turned-advocate.
She said the project emerged as global health funding faces unprecedented strain and gains urgency amid warnings of resurgent infectious diseases linked to dwindling global health aid.
Under the Trump administration, the U.S. froze $3 billion in global health funding, including cuts to USAID programmes supporting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria in Nigeria a nation already battling one of the world’s highest TB burdens (572,000 cases in 2022, per WHO).
The Global Fund estimates such cuts could lead to 300,000 additional HIV/AIDS and TB deaths in Africa by 2025.
Ebola, too, remains a latent threat. Nigeria’s underfunded surveillance systems, strained further during the COVID-19 pandemic, have left rural areas vulnerable to outbreaks.
“Aid cuts created a domino effect. Clinics lost supplies, health workers went unpaid, and communities lost trust.”said Dr. Peter Salisu, a Kogi-based epidemiologist.
This charitable hospital is projected to counter this through a hybrid funding model. The hospital will operate on a “care now, pay if you can” model. Patients unable to afford fees will receive free services, while nominal charges for others will fund staff salaries and medical supplies for sustainability, the bulk of construction and equipment costs will rely on crowdfunding, private donations, and personal investments from the founders.
Kadiri, Ugbede-Ojo Dominic, a Health Informatics Officer and co-founder, emphasised transparency in the project.
“Every dollar reinvested here stays here. We’re building for generations, not for profit.”
“The facility will feature a maternity wing, ICU, pediatric care units, and a laboratory for diagnosing infectious diseases. Its location along Egbeche Road, a vital but poorly serviced corridor, is strategic.
“Ogodo sits at the crossroads of multiple underserved villages such as Emanyi, Egbeche, Akwu, Ojuwo, Acharane, Enale among others.
“This is where the need screams loudest.
“Africa’s health challenges are magnified by population growth and climate change,” Dominic explained.
The Gates Foundation’s 2023 report warned that declining aid could reverse decades of progress, with malaria deaths — 96% of which occur in Africa — projected to rise if funding stalls.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s doctor-to-patient ratio remains 1:5,000, far below WHO’s recommended 1:600.
For villagers like Aisha Ibrahim, 34, who lost two children to malaria and a sister to postpartum hemorrhage, the hospital offers rare hope. “We pray this place comes fast,” she said. “Now, we bury too many.”
Equitable Medicaid and Clinical Research aims to break ground by late 2025. But as Etubi, Joy Ojochogwu noted, “The real work isn’t bricks and mortar. It’s proving that where governments and donors fail, communities can rise.”
It is worth noting that disease outbreaks in Africa or any part of the world rarely remain confined. “A health crisis in Ogodo today can become Lagos’ problem tomorrow, and the world’s the day after,” warned co-founder Kadiri, Ugbede-Ojo Dominic, referencing the rapid spread of diseases like Ebola and COVID-19. “Viruses don’t carry passports. Global health security depends on equitable local action.”
This statement lays bare a grim reality: underfunded health systems in rural, remote, and underserved communities don’t just endanger Nigerians — or Africans as a whole. They leave the world perilously vulnerable.
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In this light, the planned charitable hospital by Equitable Medicaid and Clinical Research could become not only a lifeline for neglected populations but an essential safeguard for a fragile global ecosystem, where unchecked diseases know no borders.
