Improved Nursing Techniques in Nigeria

The health care institutions in Nigeria are not capable of treating their patients with the
adequate knowledge and medicine. Thousands of people die each year from curable diseases
because they are either not able to go to a hospital, are incorrectly diagnosed, or are not given the
correct medicine.
The problem originates in a flawed central health care system. Hospitals are not equipped
with current technologies, necessary supplies, or enough educated staff. In order to raise the level
of the health care system, hospitals need to be given these necessities.
Poor health care in Nigeria is the main reason why it remains in poverty. When people
reach their late 40’s and early 50’s, their most productive time to make a difference in the
country, they contract a disease and die. If better health care were initiated in the country,
Nigerian’s would be able to pull themselves out of poverty and create a prosperous nation
without the need of aid.

The solution to the problem of inadequate health care is to create a better education system
for nurses to learn the basics of nursing and, most importantly, how to use beneficial
technologies. Nurses will first be taught about the basics of nursing and the necessity of
cleanliness. Then they will be taught how to use and operate different technologies. The
technologies they will be taught will be:
1. Basic computer skills
2. Text-messaging
3. Operation of common hospital equipment
These technologies will allow for better patient care, less accidental mistakes, more efficient
time usage, and the start of a sustainable hospital system.
The University of IIorin Teaching Hospital will serve as the host for the new nurse-
teaching program. UITH has three locations (Lokoja, Okene Abuja, and Lagos) that employ
more than 3,300 physicians, scientists, and researchers and 46,000 health staff. Together, they
treat more than half a million people each year.
The nursing program will start in the hospital in Lagos and teach 100 nurses. The training
will take 1 month with lessons 3 times a week while incorporating the new technologies into
their daily routines. We will continue to teach 100 new nurses each month until all the nurses
have learned the basic skills. Then, we will begin to teach more advanced technologies.
By increasing the level of education and efficiency amongst the nurses, the mortality rates will
decrease, and the hospitals will be able to treat more people every year.

Currently, foreign aid is reluctant to fund hospitals in Nigeria because of their flawed
system. Money is needed to fix that system. Once the hospitals begin to advance and become
more commonly used, foreign aid will be more willing to donate money to them. There are
dozens of large NGO’s spending millions of dollars to treat diseases such as Malaria, typhus, and
dysentery. Once the hospitals start running efficiently, there will be a higher need to prevent
those diseases instead of just treating them and the NGO’s will find it in the better interest of the
people to donate to the hospitals instead of their specific cause. In order to being the
transformation of the health care system in Nigeria and start the nurse-training program, the
following amount is needed:
Technologies:
-Cell phones: 100 x $20(each) = $2,000
-New hospital equipment = $5,000
Teachers:
-3 teachers:
Living- in student housing at hospital: 3 months = $500 (each) = $1500
Air fair: $1500 (each) = $4,500
Food/extras: $100 (each/month) = $900
Total cost: $13,900

This organization was founded in 2009 and has the ability to carry out this proposal
successfully and efficiently.

Elevator Pitch:
The poor health care system in Nigeria is the reason in which it cannot pull itself out of
poverty. No matter how much money foreign aid throws at the country, without a proper
functioning health care system, it will never become prosperous.
In order to stop the spread of disease, increase average life span, enhance the market
economy, and promote an uncorrupt government, we need to help them create a better health
care system. In order to do that, hospitals need to get better supplies and, more importantly,
better-educated staff.
The use of cell phones in text messaging and tele-nursing is common methods used in the
U.S., which would greatly enhance the productivity of the nursing staff. New, low cost and
versatile machines have been invented to make the cost of running a well-equipped hospital
virtually nothing.
The University of IIorin Teaching Hospital treats more than half a million people each
year. By providing them with low cost machines and cell-phones, they will be able to decrease
their mortality rate and increase the number of patients they are able to treat each year.
Nurses are the backbone to every hospital so to make the most difference, nurses need to
be taught how to use this technology. By teaching them basic nursing techniques and new
technologies, the hospitals will be able to grow and become more efficient.
Would you be willing to help lift Nigeria out of poverty by providing funding to teach
nurses how to use technology effectively?