A non-governmental organisation in collaboration with women affairs ministry is embarking on health outreaches to indigent members of the society. AMEH EJEKWONYILO writes on such efforts.
Moved by the magnitude of gap in social service delivery in the country, the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development went into partnership with a non-governmental and non-profit organisation, Miteda Wellness Initiative, with a view to providing free medical services to indigent members of the public across some states in the country. The minister made the disclosure during a courtesy visit by the management of the organisation led by its convener and founder, Dr Adefunmilola Williams-Daudu to the headquarters of the ministry in Abuja.
Team leader enumerates purpose of visit During the visit, the leader of the team noted that her organisation was moved to work with the ministry owing to Tallen’s commitment and passion for issues relating to health and development of women and girls in the country. “We are thrilled by your achievements. We have heard a lot about your commitment to issues relating to the health and development of women and girls.”Williams-Daudu who revealed that she was raised by her elder brother having lost her parents, and therefore, wanted a way of giving back to society, decided to organise regular medical outreaches for vulnerable persons from her base in Europe. “I did not know my parents. I was actually raised by my brother. When I returned from Canada and wanted to mark my 40th birthday, instead of gathering people together in the city to eat and drink, which is not a bad idea anyway, I decided to enter the village to celebrate my birthday. So, I took along about seven doctors, 12 nurses and laboratory scientists, including what I could afford. We went to the village and attended to may who needed medical attention. We also attended to some emergency cases.”After that I returned to my base in Canada, but two weeks after, a prominent member of the community, whose relative benefited from our medical outreach, called me and suggested that we should not let this thing die just like that but should make it an annual event. And that was how Miteda started and till date, we have sustained it.”She enumerated the NGO’s areas of activities to include: screening for diabetes, cervical cancer and some other forms of cancer. We treat sight problems and engage in health advocacy activities.
We also build capacities in the area of health management services.”In our last collaboration with the Benue state government, we brought a 13-man team from the United States during which we attended to many cases involving eye-sight challenges. We also trained some of the state health workers in the area of capacity building. Many were treated and we were commended for that.”In that regard, we decided to come to you and ask that you become our life matron. Our visit today is to induct you in that regard; present you with a certificate and our uniform (a T-shirt) to that effect and to decorate you with a ribbon as well.”We look forward to a robust collaboration between our organisation and the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development. We are currently working in Lagos, with the state government. We are hoping to start next year with Nasarawa state and also include Plateau state which is the minister’s home state,” Williams-Daudu said. Minister’s commendationIn her response, Tallen lauded Miteda Wellness Initiative for its humanitarian works, which she described as a way of restoring hope in the face of despair.”I want to commend the convener of the Miteda Wellness Initiative for the good work you have been doing for our women and children across the country by giving them hope where there seem to be no hope, by conducting screening and engaging in other forms of health outreach in the areas of cancer, eye treatment, among others. By so doing so, you are giving hope to the hopeless within our society.”I commend you and your organisation for the good work you are doing. And I call on other well-meaning Nigerians to engage in similar activities of reaching out and paying back to the larger society from what the society has given us.”The Ministry of Women Affairs is always very excited to work and collaborate with people who reach out to give hope to women and children. “This ministry is ready to support any initiative that would give hope to humanity. And I want to assure you that we would partner together to reach out to more people.”I commend your effort and I thank you for finding me worthy to be appointed as a life matron of this organisation. It is also my hope that those you have touched would also extend the benefits of your services to others so that we can have a heather and happier society because a healthy society is a productive society,” the minister said.Tallen, an asset – SpokespersonWhile speaking earlier, spokesperson of the organisation, Olatutu Oladunni Bilesanmi, noted that the minister is an asset to the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration due to her determination to improve the lots of women and children in the country. Bilesanmi explained that her organisation had carried out about six reachout editions where they attended to people’s medical needs for free.
According to her, “We believe this is our way of giving back to the society. We believe that when we impact medically in people’s lives, we are impacting in the nation. This is in line with the saying that a healthy nation is a great nation.“We collaborate with stakeholders in our outreach activities. We have worked with states across the country. One of our recent projects was the collaboration we had with Benue state government last year. Earlier, we had collaborated with Ondo and Lagos states, the Niger-Delta ministry, among others, who were impressed with what we are doing.“Now, we realised from your antecedent and zeal to improve the condition of the vulnerable ones, particularly the women and children, you share our passion and we have decided work with you. That is one of the reasons we are here.“You have in most instances spoken out for the poor and the vulnerable members of the population. You have discharged yourself excellently well in your past appointments to public offices. We have over the years admired your courage and as a staunch advocate for the promotion of the interest of the poor and vulnerable,” Bilesanmi noted.
