#UNLEASHLab2017: My Desire to Save Lives using Tech, by Laz Ude Eze
My name is Laz Ude Eze, I’m popularly known as Donlaz — a pen name I used as a pressman while in school and still use for my media activities. I am a public health physician — trained at the University of Ibadan College of Medicine, Nigeria and the University of Kentucky College of Public Health, Lexington, United States. I live and work in my beloved country, Nigeria.
I grew up in my hometown, Okposi, hitherto a very rural community with no electricity and minimal access to potable water and quality health care. I observed the effects of poverty, hunger and lack of social amenities on health of individuals and the economy of families. My people love education, some parents borrowed while others sold their belongings to ensure their children acquired university degrees. The increased literacy rate in Okposi has led to increasing wealth, improved quality of life and infrastructural development of the community. My experience growing up informed my career choice — I wanted to help save lives having been terribly hurt by the untimely death of my grandmother and mother while I was 13 and 17 years old respectively. After my community medicine posting during my first clinical year in medical school, I fell in love with preventive medicine. I felt I could make more impact and help in saving more lives by working to prevent ill-health in the population.
Since I became a doctor 9 years ago, I have gained experience working with diverse set of people in Nigeria, Togo and United States in clinical, research and public health programming. My active involvement in health policy and financing advocacy at the national level further exposed me to the key determinants of access to quality healthcare.
In Nigeria and many other developing countries, safe delivery is like a miracle. This is because many women still die in the process of giving life. A cousin of mine lost his wife during her first child birth experience in 2006 (the twins also died), a friend lost his 25 years old wife in 2016 from pregnancy-related events, and just two days ago I lost a former colleague whom I had a chat with last week — she was delivering her first baby. The most common cause of maternal death in Nigeria is excessive blood loss. Blood products or substitutes are not readily available. Many health facilities do not have facilities to store blood. Consequently, fresh whole blood becomes the dominant alternative especially during emergencies. To achieve the SDG 3 targets, we must stop women from dying in the process of giving life.
During my weekly radio show TalkHealth9ja on WazobiaFMAbuja over the past 3 years, callers share horrific experiences of what some women go through in accessing health care particularly in hard-to-reach communities. Doing nothing is not an option. Millions of Nigerians access the internet using mobile phones, this provides an opportunity for health to meet tech. My works in AfrYPoD exposed me to incredibly innovative changes young people are creating using tech and if sustained and encouraged, will increase SDG achievements.
My idea is to create a mobile app that will connect willing blood donors to those who need it especially in emergency situations. @UNLEASHLab has provided an opportunity for me to incubate the idea and turn it to reality. I’m very passionate about #health and #education and really excited about the opportunity and the experience I will get in Denmark as we work towards a healthier, more literate and peaceful world by 2030.
Check out http://donlaz.wordpress.com or http://donlaz.wordpress.com to read some of my articles and blog posts.
