Our vision is to promote affordable healthcare to women and children in Nigeria by collaborating with existing healthcare institutions towards enhancing the survival rate of women and children.

CS-DON works closely with partners, including healthcare professionals, institutions, researchers, donors and volunteers to advance child and maternal healthcare in the country.

Our collaborators include Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Ibom Specialist Hospital, National Hospital Abuja and the TY Danjuma Foundation.

Additionally, in 2009, the organisation established the Calabar Women and Children’s Hospital (CWCH) – a 40-bed neo- natal specialist hospital to provide the necessary platform for effective implementation of the organisation’s objective of providing affordable and qualitative care for maternal and child healthcare with an emphasis on newborn babies.

In order to extend its reach to the larger community, through collaborations with international and indigenous experts, CS-DON schedules five general and specialised free medical missions annually to give people in Cross River as well as patients referred from other hospitals across the country expert medical care from specialist doctors.

How do you coordinate your activities?

CS-DON’s intervention approach is three-pronged: Medicaid & Medicare, Birth Defect Awareness & Treatment and Cancer Awareness & Treatment.

Through the Medicaid and Medicare programs, we give donations, provide free medical missions and training of healthcare workers as well as support with medication, diagnosis and investigations for people who are unable to afford it. We also focus on providing treatment support and interventions through our Calabar Women & Children Hospital and Well Baby & Well Woman Clinics.

With our Birth Defect Awareness and Treatment program, we advocate, provide continuous awareness campaigns for the prevention of and provide ongoing treatment support for children with birth defects like spina bifida.

Through the Cancer Awareness and Treatment programs, we developed the Run For A Cure: United Against Cancer initiative, which aims to raise awareness of, and funds for the treatment of breast, cervical and childhood cancer.

Why this passion for improving healthcare in the country?

My passion stems from my personal experiences. Both my father and a dear aunt passed away from cancer. My father was diagnosed with prostate cancer and my aunty with ovarian cancer and both passed away due to late detection. When I had my youngest daughter, Donna, in the United States, due to certain complications, despite not seeking my permission first, she was immediately taken from the delivery room to a different specialist hospital for children and placed in an intensive care unit. Upon discharge, I could not afford the additional unanticipated medical bill and asked the hospital why such an amount was incurred without my permission. Their response was that the hospital’s policy was to go to any lengths and expense to save a baby’s life with or without the parent’s permission. On my return to Nigeria, I decided that, at the first opportunity, I would establish a hospital for children, as I hope to also help save the lives of babies in Nigeria as my daughter’s life was saved. Indeed, several lives, not just of babies but also adults, have been saved because the hospital facility is in its location.

Kindly expatiate more on the Run For A Cure program

Statistics show that breast, cervical and childhood cancers remain an all too common occurrence amongst women and children in Nigeria and unfortunately, these children and women die each year from cancer because they do not have access to affordable and adequate care, information or even a shoulder to lean on.

Every 74 seconds somewhere in Nigeria a woman dies from breast cancer, every 90 seconds a child dies from cancer and 14,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in Nigeria yearly, with the majority of these people incapable of getting access to proper treatment.

The Run For A Cure initiative encompasses:

– Run For A Cure, a quarterly charity race that we have been organizing for the past seven years to raise awareness and funds for the treatment of breast, cervical and childhood cancers;

– Adopt a Child, through which we encourage individuals to help with the treatment and support of children affected by cancer as their families are sometimes unable to afford medication, feeding and other healthcare costs for the children; and

– Quilt for Love, which educates children about cancer prevention and encourages young students and individuals nationwide to join in our support for children living with cancer by decorating a piece of fabric which is then sewn into quilt blankets for children in hospitals, who have cancer, to remind them of the massive support group they have beyond the four walls of their hospital rooms. The Quilt For Love program is an incredible initiative that has touched the hearts of so many families despite its simplicity. We encourage all schools and children of all ages to participate and please reach out to us on information on how your school or child can get involved.

We need to win this battle against cancer. I am hopeful and expectant that with the commencement of the federal government’s cancer intervention plans, the burden of many families affected will be eased as unfortunately most of these families are very poor and cannot afford the high cost of investigation and the subsequent treatment.
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What are the successes of CS-DON’s interventions and programs?

Through the generous donations and support as well as the dedication of our volunteers, CS-DON has been able to provide 900 women with free cryotherapy screening and treatment for cervical cancer in Lagos and Calabar; 1,000 underprivileged women with access to free healthcare at the Women and Children’s Hospital; put smiles on the faces of 1,000 children in hospitals through CS-DON’s Quilt for Love program, which provides gifts and hospital accessories to children in the oncology wards of hospitals in LUTH and UCTH.

We have also provided 30 children with cancer treatment support; 10 children with birth defects subsidised costs for neurological surgery and Mammography machines to CWCH and LUTH, among others. Our volunteers also help to follow individual cases to ensure that we do the best we can to see that these women and children access the best healthcare available and are getting the physical and emotional support they need.

​What are the next steps for CS-DON this year?

We would like to do more to build on the successes we have enjoyed since the organisation’s inception. Our first medical mission of the year was held in January and 45 surgeries were held at the Calabar Women and Children’s Hospital. We have the next Run For A Cure events scheduled for Port Harcourt and Lagos in August and November respectively.

None of these initiatives would have been possible without support from our sponsors, individual donations and volunteers. Our volunteers in particular, are very dear to us and without them it would have been incredibly difficult for the organisation to achieve its success. To thank them, in the coming weeks we are holding a certification ceremony and party in their honour.

We recently held a benefit dinner on February 5, 2016 in commemoration of World Cancer Day at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos. The theme of the dinner was #WeCanICan in line with the central theme for the 2016 World Cancer Day.

Highlight of the event was the keynote address delivered by Prof. Francis Durosimi-Etti Professor of Radiology Therapy and Oncology at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital and Chairman of the National Consultative Committee on Cancer Control in Nigeria, the body charged with the formulation of the National Cancer Management and Control policies currently being implemented in Nigeria.

Prof Durosimi-Etti reiterated the fact that a lot needs to be done towards ensuring adequate cancer awareness, care and treatment support. He further discussed in detail the need to ensure the availability and accessibility of critical cancer diagnostic and investigation equipment across the country, which is key to proper treatment.

The aim of the dinner was to share the works CS-DON has been involved in, thank our sponsors for their support and urge stakeholders to take collective responsibility towards creating awareness and providing support for cancer patients.

On which platforms can the public find out more information on CS-DON and upcoming initiatives?

To learn more about our organisation and how you can help the cause by participating in our initiatives or becoming a volunteer, we encourage everyone to visit our websites: www.csdon.org and www.runforcure.org or send us an email: [email protected]. Also be sure to follow us on Instagram – @runforcure and Twitter – @run_for_a_cure.