Ropheka Medical and Dental Clinic is a not-for-profit hospital center located in the Akowonjo suburban area of Lagos, Nigeria. The hospital serves primarily a rural area. About 99% of the Ropheka patients are poor people with very limited access to health care.

Ropheka provides a general medical and dental practice to the community, including both inpatient and outpatient care. A major portion of its practice deals with confronting the issues of HIV/AIDS diagnosis and treatment, recognizing that approximately 1.2 million people in the Lagos area are infected with the virus. An average of ten new cases of HIV are reported weekly at the hospital.

IHSF founder, Charles Evans, first met with Dr. Joe Onigbinde of the Ropheka Hospital when the doctor visited his home in Atlanta, Georgia as a guest of the Georgia Council for International Visitors (GCIV). In 2003, Dr. Onigbinde was in the United States as an International Visitor, and was selected as the sole representative from Nigeria to the US Department of State’s Multi-Regional Project on HIV/AIDS and Infectious Diseases. He has been actively involved in HIV/AIDS Control Programs in Nigeria since 1992, the year Ropheka was founded. And in 2007, the doctor received his MPH in International Community Health from New York University.

Having been launched in 1992 with second-hand medical and dental equipment donated from Belgium, Ropheka is now operating their practices using equipment that is more than 20 years old. The hospital is badly in need of newer, more up-to-date equipment in order to more effectively meet the needs of the community it serves.

In December 2007, with the cooperation of MedShare International, IHSF and the Imlay Foundation sponsored the shipment to Ropheka of a 40-foot container, filled with used but usable medical and dental supplies and equipment. All items included in this shipment were hand-picked by the leadership of the hospital to assure that their most urgent needs were met first.

In the year ahead, IHSF will continue to monitor the effectiveness of this shipment and will work with partner organizations and hospital leadership in planning to fulfill any needs that were unmet by this initial donation.

If you are interested in knowing more or if you would like to help, please contact IHSF.

Sources: