In Their Own Words: Three of Nigeria’s Health Care Heroes Relive a Year of COVID-19 Care
See how USAID supports Nigerian frontline health care workers to provide live-saving assistance
With a large population and the threat that a pandemic poses, meeting demand for health care services remains an overarching challenge facing Nigeria and the health care workers who treat patients with COVID-19.
After over a year of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re highlighting three health care workers trained through USAID’s Meeting Targets and Maintaining Epidemic Control (EpiC) project.
These health care workers share their experiences fighting on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic and teach us why investing in their efforts to strengthen service delivery and health systems is more important now than ever before.
DR. ROBERT EGOT
As an anaesthesiologist at the National Hospital in Abuja, Nigeria, Dr. Robert Egot places his life on the line for his patients every day.
“Facing a pandemic and working as a frontline doctor is a landmark experience in my career because it involves standing up to save the sick ones who have been ravaged by a deadly virus that had no cure or vaccine available at the beginning. This entailed passion to put others first even if it involves risking your own life. I reflect that this moment is a defining moment for all doctors.
“The need for investing in the health sector cannot be over-emphasized as the pandemic further revealed the frailty of the Nigerian health sector. Health care workers are willing to give their best to save lives, but the motivation and lack of equipment to work have been the greatest setback.
“Building functional isolation centers, staff training, and intensive care units have proved to be of immense relevance to critical care support. The provision of ventilators and pulse oximeters by a few agencies including USAID through FHI 360 has made a great difference to critical care support for severely ill patients. We’re indeed very grateful for the intervention.”
AWOTONA AJOKE
Awotona Ajoke Adijat is an infection prevention and control nurse at Federal Teaching Hospital Ido Ekiti. She is responsible for providing critical care to patients with COVID-19 in the Intensive Care Unit and says that the pandemic turned her into a champion for providing first-class care for patients experiencing the most acute COVID-19 symptoms.
“COVID-19 has had no negative impact on my work, rather I see it as an opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives.
“Occasionally, when there are challenges, my team and I go the extra mile to proffer solutions. When there was scarcity of hand sanitizer, I collaborated with the management to get raw materials [isopropyl alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, glycerol, and aloe vera gel] for us to [locally] prepare hand sanitizers. This local preparation of hand sanitizer ensured a constant supply of hand sanitizer to every unit, ward, clinic, and office in the hospital throughout the period of the lockdown until things got better.”
DR. IBRAHIM SALIM ABDULLAHI
Dr. Ibrahim Salim Abdullahi is a case manager and ICU service provider at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital who practices his specialty with passion.
“Being at the frontline carries maximum risk of being infected and transmitting the infection to my family. This is one of the most difficult challenges of being a medical doctor at this moment. I had to make a voluntary choice of putting time with my patients ahead of time with my family. This is because of my passion to save lives.
“I also take the Hippocratic Oath seriously. Together with my colleagues, we work around the clock and go extra miles to attend to patients’ needs. The toughest time is losing a patient in spite of doing everything humanly possible to keep the patient alive with the available resources. The good side is that most patients survive; the smiles on their faces as they leave the isolation ward encourages me to push hard. This great sense of satisfaction derived from recovered patients sustains my spirit.
“Investment in HCWs [health care workers] can never be overemphasized in the context of achieving a disease-free nation. Empowering the HCWs with requisite knowledge (through training and re-training), provision of much needed equipment, and continuous supply of drugs and consumables will no doubt help curb the menace of the pandemic. Critical care in this country was [until now] a neglected sub-specialty, but the advent of COVID-19 has underscored the importance of the specialty.”
Through USAID support, these health care workers showcase how beyond every COVID-19 infection there is a life working to save lives.
They represent the dedication health care workers have shown over the past year, placing themselves at risk to keep their communities and families safe and to end the COVID-19 pandemic.
Their stories are evidence of how important investing in health care workers is during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Go to USAID’s Office of HIV/AIDS website to read the full interviews with these health care heroes.
About the Author
FHI 360 implements the Meeting Targets and Maintaining Epidemic Control (EpiC) project. Designed as a PEPFAR-funded HIV prevention, care and treatment project, EpiC was mobilized by USAID to respond to COVID-19 clinical care needs in 21 countries including Nigeria.
