Care Circle Clinic, Itire-Surulere, Lagos

In April, 310 community members received free healthcare at Care Circle in Itire-Surulere, Lagos, the second month running above 300 and bringing the clinic's total since launch to 1,984 patients, almost 2,000 in roughly eight months.

What stood out was loyalty. Returning patients jumped to 64%, up from 45% the month before, while 112 people (36%) came for the first time. We treated patients from four communities (Itire, Ijesha, Kilo and Lawanson), 84 of them children under 18, ranging from two baby girls to an 82-year-old grandmother. 68% were women, who usually manage healthcare for the whole family, and the average patient lives on $5.44 (about £4) per person each month, well below the poverty line. Malaria was the most common condition (37%), followed by upper respiratory infections (17%) and hypertension (15%). Nurses Benedeth and Sylvia ran the clinic all month, and patients rated their care 99% five stars.

We spent $435 (about £345) on medications, supplies and operations, partly offset by about $53 from the clinic's plastic-waste recycling programme, which also cuts down nearby mosquito breeding sites. Medication costs are creeping up, so we've opened bidding for lower-cost local suppliers. Demolitions in parts of Itire-Surulere continue, though we're hearing fewer reports now, and the clinic stayed open throughout.

Mrs Adeyemo came back for her third visit after a friend first told her about Care Circle, and shared her experience on video.

With repeat visits climbing, we expect to pass 2,000 patients next month.

In March, 304 community members received free healthcare at Care Circle in Itire-Surulere, Lagos, bringing the clinic's total since launch to 1,674 patients. Of those, 167 (55%) were visiting for the first time, up from 41% in February, which means word about the clinic is still reaching new families.

Demolitions in parts of Itire-Surulere are still ongoing and have displaced some community members, but the clinic stayed fully open all month and crossed our 300-patient target. 70% of patients were women, and the average patient lives on $5.37 per person per month, well below the global poverty line. Malaria was the most common condition we treated (38% of visits), followed by upper respiratory infections (18%) and hypertension (14%). We spent about £321 (US$407) on medications and nurses' salaries, and the plastic waste recycling programme attached to the clinic also turned 4 pounds of neighbourhood waste into cash to support operations, while reducing mosquito breeding sites in the process.

Mrs Sandra came to Care Circle for the first time after a friend told her about it, and shared her experience on video.

With first-time visits still climbing, we expect Care Circle to keep growing through April as word about the clinic continues to reach new families.

In February, 315 community members received free healthcare at Care Circle in Surulere, Lagos, a 50% increase on January that brings the total since the clinic opened five months ago to 1,370 patients. Of those, 41% were visiting for the first time and 59% returned for ongoing care, which suggests families are building a regular relationship with the clinic.

The average monthly household income among patients was about 11,400 naira (roughly £6) for a family of four, working out to about £1.50 per person per month. This is lower than January, which suggests Care Circle is increasingly reaching families with the fewest financial resources. We spent about £310 (US$391) on medications and nurses' salaries.

Earlier months saw a slower ramp-up than expected, partly due to government home demolitions in the area causing displacement and instability. With conditions calming, patient numbers have now picked up, and the slower early months also meant we could stretch the clinic's operating funds and extend its runway through to the end of April.

In January, 212 community members received free healthcare at Care Circle, our clinic in Surulere, Lagos. This brings the total to over 1,050 patients since the clinic opened four months ago, with 51% of January's patients visiting for the first time and 49% returning for ongoing care.

The average monthly household income among patients was about 13,700 naira (roughly £7) for a family of four, which works out to about £1.75 per person per month. We spent about £310 (US$390) on medications and nurses' salaries.

Care Circle is ramping up as expected, and as more families in Surulere discover the clinic, we anticipate patient numbers continuing to grow through Q1.

During this two-month period, we provided free healthcare services to 412 patients, bringing the total number of patients served since launch to 843. Most patients had very low household incomes, averaging N10,819 (around $8) per month for a family of four, and nearly all were uninsured.

Malaria remained the most common condition treated, followed by hypertension and other common illnesses such as respiratory infections, diarrhoea, skin rashes, and body pain. Over half of patients seen during this period were first-time visitors, while 42% were returning patients.

Patient feedback suggests that Care Circle is becoming a trusted source of care within the community. In post-visit surveys, 98% of patients rated the care they received as excellent, with the remaining patients rating it as good. Patients also travelled from surrounding neighbourhoods, sometimes for up to two hours, to access affordable healthcare.

In the last 2 months, we spent $866 ($407 in November, and $459 in December) to provide care to 421 people at Care Circle, including on medications, staff salaries (2 months) and Christmas bonuses!

As Care Circle continues to grow, the team will focus on maintaining quality care while reaching more underserved households in Surulere and nearby communities.

Activities:

• Provided free primary healthcare services to 412 patients in November and December

• Diagnosed and treated malaria, hypertension, and other common illnesses

• Served predominantly uninsured patients from low-income households

• Collected post-visit patient feedback to assess quality of care

• Delivered care to patients travelling up to 20 km from surrounding communities

In the final week of September, Care Circle opened its doors in the Itire, Surulere community and within just one week, 209 patients received free care. This strong start brought our total reach in September to 648 patients across its two free clinics in Nigeria.

Developments

• Patient numbers grew from 104 on launch day to 209 by the end of the week.

• A recycling station is being finalized in partnership with WeCyclers, allowing patients and community members to exchange plastics for cash to support clinic operations. This initiative is set to begin in November.

Activities

• Care Circle officially launched in the final week of September

• 209 patients received free healthcare during the first week of operations

• 100% of patients were new, with no prior treatment history at the clinic

Beneficiaries

One of the first patients was Mr. Olayinka, a father in his 60s who said:

It’s been more than 6 months since I was last able to visit a hospital. I’ve been stooling so much in the past week and felt very weak. I saw the new clinic opened near my house and received free treatment here. Without this clinic, I don’t know what I would have done.

His story reflects the clinic’s core mission: to serve Nigerians who live on very low incomes and lack access to healthcare.

In total, Care Circle treated 209 patients in its first week. Common conditions included:

• Malaria (22%)

• Respiratory infections (20%)

• Hypertension (21%)

• Peptic ulcers (2%)

• Skin rashes (6%)

All treatments were provided at 100% no cost.

Patient demographics

• By income: Average household income was N15,633/month (~$11), typically supporting four people, equivalent to $3/person/month

• By insurance status: 98% were uninsured

• By age: 30% were aged 36 to 50; children and teens made up 17%, with the youngest patients aged 1 and the oldest aged 81

• By gender: 70% female, 30% male

• By location: 98% were from Itire, while others travelled up to 7km from areas like Ojuelegba, Aguda, and Ilasa

Financials

In September, approximately $280 was spent on staff salaries and medications. Since staff began mid-month (including a week of training and onboarding), only half of the monthly salary budget was used.

Care Circle officially launched this week! Over the past two weeks, we completed renovations, furnished the space, and set up the facility, trained staff on EMR technology, ran a community publicity campaign, and held our medical outreach launch event.

From day one, Care Circle has been running on an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system powered by Ajirmed, a Nigerian-based company. This system will help keep patient data secure, enable analysis and trend tracking, and reduce paper and filing costs. Ahead of launch, Care Circle’s medical team completed EMR training with Mr. Dipo, Ajirmed’s EMR expert. Nurses Benedeth and Sylvia trained alongside him to ensure smooth implementation.

• Number of patients helped: from 0 to 104 on launch day.

• The clinic space is fully furnished and set up to be ready on day one.

• Staff trained on EMR with Ajirmed and equipped from the start.

• Team shadowed staff at other AHA clinics to learn the “AHA way.”

• Community outreach on September 18th included door-to-door engagement, distribution of flyers, and traditional drumming in Surulere.

• An official launch event was held on September 20th, supported by volunteer nurses and physicians. In three hours, 104 patients received free primary care and health education, with additional patients redirected to return on Monday.

• The clinic transitioned into full daily operations on September 22nd.

Financials:

Renovation costs were largely as forecasted, with about 99% of phase 1 funding now utilised. As Care Circle moves into operations, we look forward to securing phase 2 funding to cover staff salaries and medications. This will allow Care Circle to directly serve an estimated 300 to 400 patients per month in Surulere with free primary healthcare.

Over the past two weeks, we completed all renovations at Care Circle Surulere, including painting, branding, blind installation, and final equipment purchases. We also welcomed two incredible nurses, Benedeth and Sylvia. We also finalized plans for the clinic’s official launch: a large community outreach event on September 14, followed by a medical outreach and ribbon-cutting on September 20. Full-time operations will begin shortly after.

Activities:

• Completed painting and added branding to the reception area

• Purchased and installed blinds throughout the clinic

• Acquired and organised remaining equipment (BP machines, weighing scales, mattresses, laptop, phone)

• Hired and confirmed two nurses: Lead Nurse Benedeth (25+ years experience) and Nurse Sylvia (10+ years)

• Conducted deep cleaning and fumigation of the clinic

• Finalized launch plans: Sept 14 community parade, Sept 20 medical outreach and ribbon cutting, followed by weekday clinic operations

Challenges:

Operations ran smoothly overall. The only delay was finalizing staff interviews and ensuring full buy-in from Surulere stakeholders. To support community ownership, our partners and local residents were deeply involved in hiring decisions. With a high volume of applications and coordination across groups, the process took longer than expected but we’re now fully staffed with two excellent registered nurses.

For future hiring, we’re exploring affordable applicant tracking systems and calendar tools to streamline the process.

Meet Nurse Benedeth, our lead at Care Circle. She brings 25+ years of experience, including 16 years as a matron in a Lagos government hospital. She’s kind, highly skilled, and a passionate advocate for health equity. She’ll be working alongside Nurse Sylvia, who has over 9 years of experience. Both nurses were selected from a pool of over 50 candidates and vetted by the AHA, community partners, and the Surulere clinic committee.

Care Circle’s services will be supported by our network of volunteer physicians.

Next steps:

Staff orientation begins next week. Nurses Benedeth and Sylvia will undergo a five-day immersion at our Safe City and Gbagada clinics to train in operations, EMR tools, and best practices, ensuring they’re fully prepared for day one.

Finances (last 3 weeks):

We’ve now used about 94% of Phase 1 funding. The remaining 6% will go toward clinic decor and initial medication procurement in the coming week.

Excited to share some updates from the Surulere clinic renovation this past week:

1. PVC ceilings are up:

We’ve completed ceiling installation in both the newly renovated indoor space and outdoor waiting areas! Thankfully, the donated basement already had a solid, intact ceiling and only needed a bit of repainting. As always, we sourced the PVC materials locally and hired a skilled local Surulere-based artisan to do the install.

Indoor space:

In the past week, we purchased tiles and tiled the entire clinic floor. Here’s a quick before-and-after:

Before: 

We purchased plumbing materials from local vendors and installed handwashing sinks in both the nursing station and consultation rooms (aligned with local Lagos state health regulations). We’ll be fixing the full toilet fixture in the restroom this week.

We’ve started buying our first pieces of medical furniture, including an exam couch, desk, ward screens, and more. More purchases are lined up this week as we inch closer to full setup.

This week, we’ll be partitioning the space into: Reception area, Nursing station, Consulting room, Pharmacy and Mini ward/observation room. 

Once that’s done, we move straight into painting.

We’re thrilled to share fresh updates from Surulere from the past week!

Roofing complete: The roofing for the clinic is now fully installed. Since the donated space already had a solid, fully constructed room, we only needed to roof a small section, which helped us save both time and resources.

Here’s the transformation:

Before clearing:

Tentative launch date set: We’ve put a tentative launch date for the clinic in the first or second week of September, and we’ll confirm the exact date very soon.

Renovations have officially started at our Surulere clinic!

We’re excited to share that construction is now underway. Over the past week, we worked with local builders to survey the site and begin renovations.

Through a careful bidding process, we chose the most cost-effective team from the Ikate Surulere area. In line with our mission, we’ve prioritised hiring local workers and sourcing materials locally. This helps improve healthcare access while also supporting the Surulere economy.

Here’s what’s been done so far:

1. The basement is being cleared and renovated into a consultation room and observation ward. Builders have sealed off old doors and added window openings.

2. Foundations and brickwork have begun for the new area, which will include the reception, waiting room, and likely the nursing station/pharmacy.

3. Bricks for a toilet and shower have been laid, meeting state standards.

4. A clinic committee made up of local residents and professionals has been formed. They’ve been involved since the start of renovations, offering valuable community insights. Their input is shaping a space that truly serves the neighborhood and builds local ownership.

Next up: Roofing

A local carpenter measured the space last Friday and will begin sourcing materials. Roofing is set to start on Monday