In July, 418 people received free consultations, diagnosis and treatment at Care Circle in Itire-Surulere, Lagos, the clinic’s busiest month since it opened and enough to take its total past 3,000. Care Circle has now cared for 3,053 people, and between the two Kwanda-funded clinics that makes 12,115 in under two years.
136 of July’s patients were finding us for the first time, a third of all visits, and we saw people from Itire, Ikotun, Kilo, Aguda and Ilasamaja as word about the clinic keeps spreading across the area. 71% were women, who usually manage healthcare for the whole family. Malaria was again the most common condition we treated at 34% of visits, with unspecified malaria adding another 14%. The average patient lives on $5.10 (about £4) per person each month, so a household of four gets by on ₦29,317 (about £16), well below the global poverty line of $2.15 a day. Nurses Benedeth and Sylvia ran the clinic right through the month and we are proud of them.
We spent $491 (about £390) on medications, medical supplies, clinic operations and materials, helped along by our community plastic-waste recycling programme, which turned 6lbs of neighbourhood waste into cash for the clinic and cut down nearby mosquito breeding sites.
Nothing went wrong this month, and with a third of visits still coming from people who have never been before, we should pass 3,500 people cared for at Care Circle within the next two months.
