Our Current Projects

Our Current Programs

Eliminate Viral Associated Hepatitis (EVAH) Program

Hepatitis continues to be a major public health issue in Nigeria. It is estimated that about 13 percent of Nigerians are infected Hepatitis B virus. Geographic variation exists across the country and pregnant women, children, and blood donors have higher prevalence than the general population. The B and C strains are relatively common.

In a bid to address this burden, MedBridge International is currently working with a number of partners to rollout a comprehensive prevention, treatment, care and support program - The EVAH Program. This program will increase access to life saving hepatitis services, especially to underserved persons in Nigeria.

Safe Indigent Mothers and Infants (SIMI) Program

MedBridge International is currently providing periodic short term free healthcare services for IDPs with a focus in Abuja based on availability of funding. In the long term, MedBridge International is planning a social entrepreneurship healthcare project that will address the longterm healthcare needs of these individuals. Further, there are plans to provide critical life saving health commodities like oral rehydration salts through drone technology.

As of December 2015, it was estimated that there were 2,152,000 internally displaced persons in Nigeria - majority of them from the Boko Haram insurgency. These are in 207 Local Government Areas (LGA) covering 13 States of Northern Nigeria. One of the greatest challenges of these IDPs is access to quality healthcare. Pregnant women have been known to deliver their babies in the IDP camps under unhealthy and unhygienic conditions.

Free Healthcare Program

From Left To Right: Dr. Abiye Kalaiwo (Executive Director of MedBridge International), Cyndee Anthony (Board Member, MedBridge International), Dr. Pamela Schmoll (Wife of the US Ambassador to Nigeria)

HIV/AIDS Program

From left to right: An HIV positive widow receiving treatment for opportunistic infection, Dr. Abiye Kalaiwo (Executive Director of MedBridge International) providing services to an HIV positive widow

HIV continues to have profound and disproportionate impact on women and children, particularly the economic well-being of single parent households. Wife inheritance and widow disinheritance are cultural practices in Nigeria that further impoverish households where women, especially when HIV positive, are bread-winners. These households are particularly vulnerable to Nigeria's worsening economy

MedBridge International in association with well-meaning Nigerians is able to identify households where the mother is HIV positive and is the breadwinner. Women and children from these households benefit from treatment of opportunistic and other infections, as well as hospital support services. These outreaches are held monthly on the average and subject to the availability of funding.

Sustainable Nutrition Assistance Program

Left To Right: Dr. Abiye Kalaiwo (Executive Director, MedBridge International), Mother and three days old infant with Omphalitis (infected umbilical cord). The mother was delivered by untrained traditional birth attendants in her house. Baby was successfully treated and followed up

The burden of Nigeria's poor healthcare system lies in rural and suburban areas where social and healthcare infrastructure are scarce. In these areas, traditional practices including the patronage of traditional birth attendants continues to boom. Several efforts by successive governments to revive primary healthcare in rural areas has not been successful as many of those efforts end up being not sustainable.

In keeping with the fundamental creed of bridging the healthcare divide and serving the underserved, MedBridge International plays a key role in increasing rural and sub-urban access to healthcare. Drawing from a pool of volunteer healthcare professionals, MedBridge International provides quality services to indigent persons in rural areas on a short term basis subject to availability of funds.