We are celebrating one year of Care Circle! Our clinic in Itire-Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria, opened its doors on 25 September 2025, and since then we have had 3,854 patient visits from the Surulere community. In September alone, 372 people came through our doors for a free consultation, diagnosis and treatment. Together with Safe City, the two Kwanda-funded clinics have now served 13,972 people.
139 of September's patients had never been to Care Circle before, 37% of all visits, and we saw people from four communities: Itire, Ijesha, Ikotun and Iyanu Ipaja. 235 of our patients (63%) were women and girls, who typically manage healthcare for the whole family. We cared for every age, with 18% aged 18 and under and 22% aged 61 and over, as Care Circle's patients tend to skew older. Among patients with a diagnosis recorded, malaria was the illness we treated most (38%), followed by pain and arthritis (30%) and hypertension (27%).
The families we reach live on an average of $6.06 (about £4.80) per person each month, so a household of four gets by on about ₦31,500 (about £19), well below the global poverty line of $2.15 a day. We also heard directly from our patients: 99% of the 167 who filled in our survey said our care significantly improved their quality of life, and many asked us to keep the health checks going.
We spent $453 (about £355) running the clinic in September, mostly on medications and medical supplies, with the rest on clinic operations and materials. Our community plastic waste recycling programme kept going too, which helps fund the clinic and cuts down mosquito breeding sites around the neighbourhood. Nurses Benedeth and Sylvia delivered care throughout the month, and we are so proud of the team!
Nothing went wrong this month. As more patients come to us, we are starting to get requests for services such as antenatal care alongside primary care, and we are now reviewing how to make that happen.