Globally, January is national cervical cancer awareness month and I thought to begin this year on sensitizing the populace on the importance of taking one’s health seriously and in this case, cancer sensitization. Who best to share on this if not my ‘date’ for this week, Femi Olaleye, the Founder and CEO of Optimal Healthcare Limited, a social enterprise focused on strengthening the delivery of primary healthcare in Nigeria.
In addition to his medical degree from OAU, Ile-Ife, Femi also holds an MBA from Imperial College London. He became a clinical fellow in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Darent Valley Hospital, Kent in the UK before returning to Nigeria after a decade of service to the British National Health Service. He currently advises organisations and companies as a corporate strategist on CSR and delivers community development and cancer prevention projects across Nigeria.
Optimal Healthcare Limited is the social enterprise company Femi had set up while he was still working in the NHS in the UK, and the company had been investing in delivering affordable and preventive healthcare to members of the public through their low-cost clinics.
Awareness level of cervical cancer in Nigeria is still very low. According to a survey carried out by Optimal Healthcare Limited sometime ago, only 10% of Nigerian women interviewed at the entrance of the Shoprite Shopping Mall in Surulere have heard of cervical cancer before. Less than 5% of those interviewed have actually attended screening before. “I don’t want our readers to take my word for it, simply look through your phone book and call up to 10 -20 ladies and ask them the same questions and do the statistics afterwards, If the awareness is this low among the educated, you can imagine what the level would be like among the illiterates and women living in rural communities.” Femi laments.
As a public health campaigner and a director of a healthcare company and a cancer foundation, working at the forefront of healthcare delivery in Nigeria, Femi believes strongly that the Nigerian government could have done more for the people of the country in 2014.
“Countless Nigerians have died pre-maturely this year due to inadequate provision of healthcare by the government and countless more have suffered due to inaccessible healthcare partly due to the incessant strike actions by healthcare workers demanding one form of improvement to services and partly due to the fact that 90% of Nigerians (the percentage of the Nigerian population not covered by any form of pre-paid health scheme) are expected to pay for healthcare from their pockets despite the fact that 65% of Nigerians live below the poverty line (according to IFC and UN data).” He says.
However, Femi remains optimistic that 2015 will be better. In his words, “As we prepare for ‘Change’ through the political system and through the different sets of elections in the coming year, one can only hope that the policy makers shall pay more than lip service to improving the state of healthcare delivery in the country, across all tiers of government. My projection for 2015 shall be based on what is expected from government based on the budgetary allocation for health for the entire country. The total healthcare spending planned for by the Nigerian Government has not exceeded 6.5% of the budget despite the fact that Nigeria is a signatory to the Abuja Accord (whereby signatories to this UN charter declared they shall spend not less than 15% of the nation’s budget on provision of decent healthcare to citizens).”
“In a nutshell, with a growing population like ours, and with gross under-funding of healthcare, I shall not be expectant of any major ‘change’ in health outcomes for majority of Nigerians, despite the recent passing of the Nigerian Health Act bill by our Federal legislators, who have promptly, as they do, set up a committee to look into how the ‘law’ (the 9 year bill was drafted in 2005) can become a reality.” He opines.
From an organizational standpoint, Femi has this to say “we are looking towards 2015 with great optimism and a desire to do more for the people of Nigeria. As mentioned earlier, the Government cannot be relied upon to provide for the millions of Nigerians needing healthcare, so NGOs and social enterprises shall be expected to contribute their quota and help bring succor to the people and help alleviate suffering. At Optimal Cancer Care Foundation, we shall continue to offer compassion, care and hope through our Free Cancer Screening Friday project at our centres and at various outreach campaigns across Nigeria. In 2015, we shall be commemorating World Cancer Day (February 4th) with awareness campaigns and Free cancer screening for men and women across various centres in Lagos and Abuja.” Femi states and adds “Furthermore, we shall be launching a special Community Health Insurance Scheme (CHIS) in partnership with a major Microfinance Institution,
specially designed for the people of Alagbado community, a semi-urban, high-density but low-income area of Lagos State. Through this scheme, we shall provide universal access to basic primary healthcare to the people.” Says Femi.
Interestingly, the Community Health Insurance Scheme (CHIS) is an initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria and it involves payment of a monthly capitation towards access to treatments covering a range of common primary healthcare conditions and preventive care through a scheme that brings together providers and patients in the community and financed by risk-pooling strategies.
Burdened by the state of the health insurance scheme in the country, Femi has this to say. Hear him “No doubt, the recommended payment of an NHIS deduced capitation of N750 per enrollee per month is too high for the typical family of father, mother and say 4 kids: and that is why there is low uptake so far due to the financial burden that most low-income bread-winners are not prepared to add to their commitments.”
“However, with this proposed project by Optimal Healthcare Limited, such a typical family of 6, shall have access to a subsidy package that enables them to pay only a small fraction (just N200 per head) and access care at the local health centre in Alagbado provided and maintained by my organization –This subsidy is designed to be most beneficial to families that really need it and shall encourage them to start changing their health-seeking behaviour towards insuring against diseases. The subsidy package shall be funded through grants and other support mechanisms to be sourced by our organization.” He reveals.
Sharing on challenges his organisation faces in creating awareness about cancer, Femi informs me that “several challenges confronts us as we aim to create awareness about cancer. Firstly, people are in some sort of denial, and they simply do not want to undergo any test as they are fearful of the outcome of the test. The anxiety levels are connected to the fact that people’s understanding about cancer is that of a disease associated with suffering and death. So this ‘fear’ can prevent such people to absorb the message of cancer screening, Secondly, over-reliance on spiritual powers aka ‘faith healing’ precludes some people from undergoing screening tests, and even when results are disclosed to such people, they would rather seek miraculous healing powers first.” Femi states.
He however concludes by proffering solutions on way forward in cancer awareness campaigning. “awareness campaigns need to be sustained for it to be meaningful, and impactful. However, raising awareness costs money and resources. Since we are a small organisation, we are constantly faced with financial challenges that prevent us from being able to put our jingles or adverts on Radio or Television for the benefit of members of the public. We therefore call on broadcasting stations and PR/Marketing companies to come to our aid and offer media/marketing support in a long and sustained way, in order to make our campaigns effective.” He summerises.
Kemi Ajumobi
