Safe City just crossed 10,000 patient visits since launch! We are beyond elated that Safe City, your first free clinic in Nigeria, saw its 10,000th patient in September. We remember celebrating the 500th, then the 1,000th, and now we are at 10,000 less than two years after launch. This is all thanks to the Kwanda community, who believed in this vision to bring free healthcare to Nigerian communities. Saying thank you is not enough, but please accept the immense gratitude of your friends in Oworoshoki.
In September we saw 524 patients at Safe City in Oworoshoki, Lagos, Nigeria, taking our total since opening to 10,118 people, and across both Kwanda-funded clinics we have now served 13,972 people. 293 of September's patients (56%) had never visited Safe City before, which is mind-blowing: a strong wave of new families is still finding its way to us, from Oworoshoki, Bariga, Ogudu, Mushin and Ebute Metta.
358 of our patients (68%) were women and girls (it looks like we finally got a few more men in this month!), many supporting families on an average of $7.83 (about £6.20) per person each month. That leaves a household of four on about ₦40,700 (about £25), still well below the poverty line and still without affordable alternatives. Children are a big part of Safe City, with 31% of patients aged 18 and under and 14% aged 61 and over. Among patients with a diagnosis recorded, malaria was again the illness we treated most (34%), followed by upper respiratory infections (18%) and muscle pain (16%).
All 149 patients who filled in our survey rated our service excellent, and 99% said our care significantly improved their quality of life. We spent $462 (about £365) running the clinic in September, mostly on medications and medical supplies, with the rest on clinic operations and materials.
Nothing went wrong this month. Our host church is going through some leadership changes, and we are working with the new leadership to keep the clinic running to the same standard.