Safe City clinic treats 5,207 patients in 10 months in Oworoshok

This month, Safe City treated its 5,000th patient, specifically treating 439 patients from 7 communities in September alone! On average, each patient who walked through Safe City’s doors in September survives on just $5/month in income, showing that Safe City continues to impact patients who really have no other option for healthcare due to immense poverty in Oworoshoki. This month, one patient travelled over 12 km via a 1hr bus ride to access Safe City’s free healthcare!

As kids return to school in September, Safe City saw a slight drop in the percentage of kids who walked into the clinic compared to August. Still, this month, Safe City treated 162 kids below age 18, significantly impacting the demographic most vulnerable to deaths from simple illnesses like malaria if not treated early. This month, patients presented with a wider array of illnesses, including Urinary tract infections, eye infections, and ulcers, with only 29% presenting with malaria compared to last month 38%. Safe City continues to serve as a life raft for Oworoshoki.

• In the last 4 weeks, Safe city treated 439 patients! Here’s the impact by distribution:

Distribution by illness:

• 29% had malaria

• 15% had respiratory illnesses

• 18% came for hypertension management

• 38% presented with other illnesses: UTIs, eye infections, peptic ulcers, diabetes, and more

Distribution by income:

• The average monthly household income for September patients was N32,600 ($23/month)

• Adults reported an average of two dependents, meaning most families survive on about $5/person/month—well below Nigeria’s poverty line

Distribution by age:

• The largest group was children under 18 (162 total), with 108 of them under age 10

• Middle-aged adults (ages 36–50) were the next largest group

Distribution by gender:

• 72% of patients identified as female, a 2% increase from August

Distribution by location:

• 96% of patients were from Oworoshoki

• Patients also came from seven nearby communities: Gbagada, Bariga, Ikeja, Ojota, Sawmill, and Ketu

• One patient from Ikeja took a 1-hour bus ride and walked 20 minutes to reach us!

I came in late when Safe City was almost closing for the day. If I had gone to a government hospital far away from home, they would have turned me away and asked me to come back

But at Safe City, she was helped instantly at no cost by Nurse B and Nurse Chioma. Amarachi came with her little baby, and they were helped instantly!

Challenges:

• Our walls were starting to stain from high foot traffic, but community volunteers cleaned them and they now look as good as new!

• Power outages have been frequent due to the rainy season. While our community partners cover utilities, we’re currently fundraising for a solar power unit. So far, we’ve raised N120,000 from donations and another N35,000 this quarter from recycling, just about $500 short of our N900,000 goal.

In the meantime, the clinic continues to function normally. Our WiFi is backed up by a mini UPS, and we plan to add another to prevent EMR disruptions during outages.

Financials: ~$450 was spent on salaries and medications to care for the 439 people who visited Safe City in September.