It is estimated that by the time you read through this article, two children would have lost their lives due to the lack of a definite health structure in Nigeria.

In a recent study by WHO [World Health Organisation], the risk of a child dying before reaching the age of five is seven times higher in Africa [81 per 1,000 live births] than in Europe [11 per 1,000 live births].

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In seven African countries, the under-five mortality rate is more than 100 per 1,000 live births and in more than half of these cases, the deaths are due to conditions that could be prevented by simple, affordable treatment.

Non-profit organisations such as the United for Kids Foundation Nigeria have taken it upon themselves to tackle challenges associated with lack of adequate health care in children.

The United for Kids Foundation Nigeria is a non-profit organisation established in the United States, the United Kingdom and Nigeria, for the exclusive benefit of needy children in Nigeria.

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Recently, the UKF team [United for Kids Foundation Nigeria] alongside with a team of GE volunteers visited the Paediatric Department of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital in Ikeja [LASUTH] to provide support, cheer the children and also ease some of their medical needs.

Relief items ranging from toiletries to groceries were distributed to the patients and their families.

According to a GE volunteer, Chinedo Ugwu, the families were extremely shocked at the kind gestures from the GE and UKF teams.

Children of different casualties, from premature babies, to infants who had recurring ailments that required urgent attentions, newborns who had birth complications to children who children who were being rushed to the intensive care unit.

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Amongst various heart touching stories of ill children was that of a 10-year-old girl, Aduragbemi, who has been diagnosed with acute prolapse of a major organ which requires urgent surgery.

“Nothing prepared us for what we  met, some of these cases seemed so dire, in need of much more than the gift bags we came armed with,” said Ugwu.

The GE team raised #128,000 to support Aduragbemi’s surgery and ongoing medical costs.

This is a feature by GE