Health

Safe City Clinic, Oworoshoki, Lagos

A nurse in blue scrubs examines a thermometer reading with a young child seated beside her at a medical clinic table.

Fund capital used

$17,430

In Oworoshoki, a densely populated waterfront community in Lagos, getting seen by a nurse has long meant finding money first. Only one in five government primary care centres in Nigeria is operational, and malaria, which has had a known cure since 1932, still kills more than 200,000 people a year. When care costs money a family does not have, illnesses that are cheap to treat early are left until they are not.

Safe City is a free primary healthcare clinic in the middle of that community. Two registered nurses run it Monday to Friday, with volunteer doctors joining for consultations and oversight. Anyone can walk in. Consultations, medication and follow-up care are free, and nobody is asked what they can pay.

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The Story

The asset

Safe City is a permanent, fitted-out primary healthcare clinic in Oworoshoki, Lagos. The building was donated by the local community, and Kwanda's funding turned it into a working clinic: renovated, equipped, stocked, and staffed by two salaried nurses. It opened in December 2024 and has not closed since.

AHA Initiative owns the clinic and the fit-out, in a building donated by the local community, which also covers the rent and utilities. The fit-out, the medical equipment and the solar backup power unit are built to last about 10 years.

It costs little to keep open. There is no rent or utilities to pay, partner pharmacies donate medication, and a plastic waste recycling scheme run with the community brings in cash. Nurse salaries and medical supplies are currently grant funded.

What it produces

Free primary healthcare, every weekday, for anyone who walks through the door.

Since opening, Safe City has treated 8,207 people. That is consultations, treatment and medication for infections, malaria and chronic conditions, plus follow-up care from a team patients come to know. The clinic also hands out mosquito nets, menstrual products and health information alongside treatment.

The number that matters most is not the total. It is that roughly two thirds of visits are people coming back. In June 2026, 69% of patients were women.

Why this asset matters here

Around 60% of Nigerians are multidimensionally poor and over 40% live on less than $1.90 a day. In that context healthcare is the first thing to go, and the choice between food and medicine is a real one that families make regularly.

Oworoshoki had no free option before Safe City. The clinic was placed where people already live rather than where a health system would draw it on a map, which is why a nurse is now a walk away rather than a bus fare and a lost day's income.

How it keeps going

The economics are deliberately lean. The community donated the building and covers rent and utilities, so none of the funding goes on premises. Partnerships with local pharmacies bring periodic donations of medications and supplies. A plastic waste recycling scheme lets community members exchange waste in a way that contributes to running costs.

What remains is roughly $470 a month for two nurses' salaries and medical stock, which Kwanda's funding covers. In February 2026 a solar power unit was installed, so outages no longer stop consultations or take down the electronic medical records.

The clinic has already proved it survives disruption. A staff change in early 2026 caused patient numbers to dip, the clinic stayed open throughout, and by April it had recorded its best month of the year at 398 patients.

The partner who runs it

Safe City is run by the AHA Initiative, founded by Tolani Yesufu. Tolani returned to Nigeria in 2022 after studying at Harvard Medical School, Columbia Business School and Cornell University, concerned by the scale of health inequality she had watched from a distance, where people were dying of conditions that were straightforward to treat.

She started by working with communities to secure disused buildings, from churches to shopfronts, and turning them into low-cost clinics staffed by local nurses and volunteer doctors. Safe City was the first. AHA Initiative now runs a second clinic in Itire-Surulere.

Technical stuff

The Details

Updates

From the field

353 patients at Safe City in June, some travelling 12km to reach us

Posted 30 Jul 2026

June was another solid month at Safe City. 353 people received free healthcare in Oworoshoki, Lagos, taking the clinic's total since it opened to 8,560 patients. Safe City accounts for most of the 11,195 people the two Kwanda-funded clinics have now cared for between them.

113 of those patients were visiting for the first time, 32% of June's visits, while the other 68% were people coming back to a team they trust. We treated patients from Oworoshoki, Bariga and Ebute Metta, and from Mushin, 12.1km away and the furthest anyone travelled to us this month. 69% were women, most supporting families on an average of $7.06 (about £6) per person each month, still well below the poverty line and still without an affordable alternative closer to home. Malaria and hypertension were again among the conditions we saw most, alongside a wide range of everyday health needs.

Woman in a patterned dress speaking with a healthcare worker at a desk with a laptop in a medical consultation room.

We spent $470 (about £370) caring for those 353 patients, the majority on medications and medical supplies and the rest on clinic operations and materials. We also recycled 7lbs of plastic waste from the neighbourhood this month.

Mrs Adeniji has been coming to Safe City since it opened. She first heard about it at our launch rally, when we went into the community with a band, music and dancing to announce that a new clinic was coming to Oworoshoki, and more than a year on she still comes back month after month. "They attend to us and are doing their best," she told us. With returning visits holding above two thirds and new patients still arriving, we should pass 9,000 people cared for at Safe City in the next month or two.

Attachments:

Project report PDF

We've now treated over 8,000 people at the clinic

Posted 30 Jun 2026

In May, 312 community members received free healthcare at Safe City in Oworoshoki, Lagos, taking the clinic's total since launch past 8,000 to 8,207 patients. Across both Kwanda-funded clinics, we've now served more than 10,000 people in total, a milestone we passed this month.

Even as Safe City matures, 131 first-time patients (42% of visits) came through our doors, a sign that word is still getting out and new lives are still being reached at a long-standing clinic. The other 58% were returning patients, coming back to a team they trust. We served patients from Oworoshoki and Bariga, and 64% were women, most supporting families on around $11.60 (about £9) per person each month, still well below the poverty line and often without any other affordable option. Malaria was the most common condition (33%), followed by hypertension (19%) and upper respiratory illnesses (15%).

We spent $416 (about £330) on medications and staff salaries, keeping the clinic open and free throughout the month.

Mrs Helen has been coming to Safe City since 2024, and this month she told us, "If I come, they give me drugs, and my children will be okay." Two years of consistent care for one family is the kind of long-term trust that reliable, free healthcare builds. With the new team now firmly settled, we expect to keep welcoming both familiar and new faces through June.

Attachments:

Project report PDF

We treated 398 patients at Safe City in April, our best month of 2026

Posted 2 Jun 2026

In April, 398 community members received free healthcare at Safe City in Oworoshoki, Lagos, the clinic's busiest month of 2026 and a sharp rebound from 241 in March, when a staff change had slowed visits. The total since launch now stands at 7,895 patients, closing in on 8,000.

Two-thirds of April's patients (66%) were returning, the highest rate Safe City has seen this year, a sign the community has settled in with the new team. We welcomed 135 first-time visitors, and 119 of our patients were children under 18, brought in by parents who had nowhere else to turn for free care. 74% were women, most supporting families on around $9.22 (about £7) per person each month, well below the poverty line. The most common conditions we treated were upper respiratory infections (35%), muscle and body pain (30%), malaria (17%) and high blood pressure (13%). We spent $460 (about £360) on medications, supplies and clinic operations.

Mrs Yetunde came to see Safe City for herself after hearing about it from others, and shared what she found on video.

With the new team now firmly established, we expect to pass 8,000 patients next month.

Attachments:

Project report PDF

We treated 241 patients at Safe City in March, passing 7,400 total

Posted 1 May 2026

In March, 241 community members received free healthcare at Safe City in Oworoshoki, Lagos, bringing the clinic's total since launch to 7,497 patients. Numbers dipped from February's 303 because Safe City recently went through a staff change. We think some patients are still adjusting to the new team, while ongoing home demolitions in Oworoshoki continued to displace residents through the month. Healthcare is built on trust, and trust takes time, especially when a familiar face changes.

Despite the dip, 62% of March's patients were returning, the highest returning rate of either of our two clinics this month, which suggests families who've come once keep coming back. Children under 18 made up 34% of visits, 80 kids whose parents had nowhere else to take them, and 73% of patients overall were women, most supporting families on around $7.81 per person per month, well below the global poverty line. One patient travelled 12.1 km from Mushin to reach us, nearly two hours each way. Malaria was the most common condition we treated (30%), followed by muscle and body pain (17%), upper respiratory infections (7%), and high blood pressure (3%). We spent about £296 (US$375) on medications, supplies, and operations.

Mrs Emini, a Safe City patient, shared her experience on video, describing what free care has meant to her.

We expect numbers to bounce back next month as the new team settles in and the community grows comfortable with them.

Attachments:

Project report PDF

Solar panels installed at Safe City clinic in Oworoshoki

Posted 30 Mar 2026

This month, we purchased and installed solar panels at Safe City, our clinic in Oworoshoki, Lagos. We contracted a local vendor and installer from the Oworoshoki community, which also provided a small economic benefit to the area.

Three solar panels mounted on the corrugated metal roof of Safe City clinic in Oworoshoki. The panels provide backup power whenever the mains supply is unstable, generating enough electricity to run the clinic's computers, wifi, fans, and lights. This fixes the ongoing problems with electronic medical record data entry and internet outages that our nurses and patients had been dealing with regularly.

A technician installing wiring for the solar panel system on the clinic roof. We spent about £395 (US$500) from Kwanda funds, and the Oworoshoki community raised an additional £275 (US$350) towards the installation. The system has been working well since it went live, and with reliable power now in place, the team can focus fully on patient care as Safe City continues to grow.