Jhpiego (Nigeria / Pakistan / The Philippines)
Jhpiego’s mission is to ensure access to lifesaving healthcare for all people, whoever they are and wherever they live. Since 1974, Jhpiego’s work to save lives and improve health has reached people in 155 countries worldwide. Jhpiego does this by working with countries to identify their greatest health challenges, collaborating with stakeholders to develop developing innovative, sustainable solutions, and partnering with them to get the job done.
In 2020/2021, the Eurofins Foundation provided a grant to reconstruct and maintain the Iwoye Health Facility in Akure South Local Government Area (LGA) in Ondo State, Nigeria. The facility was built in 2010 to serve hard-to-reach rural communities. It serves roughly 24,500 farmers annually and provides care to approximately 1,025 pregnant women and 3,700 children under five years old.
Because of poor maintenance, parts of the building had collapsed. There was also a shortage of water and a lack of electricity and basic medical supplies. Support from the Eurofins Foundation was used to renovate the Iwoye Health Facility to provide and improve health care services available to women and their families.
The health facility’s poor electricity grid coverage created significant challenges for healthcare workers and patients, especially during obstetric complications, which are the leading cause of maternal deaths in sub-Saharan Africa. Support from the Eurofins Foundation was used to install a solar panel to help power the health clinic with a reliable form of energy.
As a result, the health facility saw a 140% increase in attendance in the first quarter of the year 2022 post renovations.
In addition, the Eurofins Foundation provided funds to support healthcare workers (HCWs) in Pakistan during the COVID-19 pandemic and save lives among the at-risk communities.
Thanks to this grant, 3,583 boxes of masks, 1,085 boxes of gloves and 3,200 hand sanitisers were distributed to frontline healthcare workers in five large cities in Pakistan, helping save lives by preventing the spread of COVID-19 and safeguarding the health of HCWs.
In 2021/2022, the Eurofins Foundation provided a new grant to Jhpiego to support cervical cancer prevention in the Philippines.
Cervical cancer is the most common cancer in women in the Philippines. Nearly all cervical cancer cases are linked to infection with human papillomaviruses (HPV). HPV testing has initiated a change in cervical cancer elimination. By screening women for HPV-positivity, HPV-positive women can immediately be examined for precancerous lesions. This reduces the burden on women, providers, and health systems. HPV testing is the most sensitive method for the prediction of cervical precancer and is easy to implement.
Jhpiego is integrating and expanding cervical cancer prevention and treatment services in the Philippines, relying on established relationships with governments and stakeholders to detect the disease early and slow or halt its progress.
Jhpiego worked with the Department of Health (DOH) in the Philippines to recruit and screen women aged 30 to 49 for cervical cancer. Due to the pandemic and subsequent supply chain and shipping delays, the project was facing a shortage of globally sourced HPV testing.
This would have affected routine HPV testing service provision, but also associated community outreach activities that were planned.
Funds from the Eurofins Foundation made it possible to shift to locally sourced procurement of HPV test equipment, specifically cervical brush (spatula) and the cellular preservation media and HPV molecular assay kits, making it possible to integrate services into the national health system and scale up the service.
In addition, Jhpiego was able to scale the programme and provide cervical cancer screening to 6,000 additional women in the Philippines.
These projects contribute to the following United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals
