If you want statistics on the dismal state of healthcare in Nigeria, there are certainly plenty to be found—“ranked 157th out of 165 countries for healthcare,” “among highest rates of maternal and infant mortality worldwide,” “high rates of death from preventable diseases.” The need is overwhelming to the point of inertia.

But at Vision Africa, we look beyond the statistics to the faces of the people in need. Instead of dwelling on who we can’t help, we concentrate on those for whom we can make a difference. They are the driving force behind the Agnes Onuoha Memorial Hospital.

From its strategic location alone, AOMH is addressing the lack of, and access to, healthcare facilities in rural areas where a scarcity of medical resources as well as roads and transportation limit access to care. It’s estimated that as many as 50,000 people with no current medical care will be within reach of AOMH, through walking or biking, by vehicles on roads we build, or by transport of the Vision Africa ambulance. 

The full-time, professional AOMH staff, available 24/7, addresses the chronic shortage of healthcare providers in rural areas, another area of critical need in the country. Moreover, the on-campus residences for doctors and nurses allow for medical missions and instruction from some of the brightest minds in medicine across the globe as our partners in healing and research. The opportunity to work with high caliber professionals helps ease the “brain drain” of promising Nigerian medical students leaving the country to seek better opportunities. 

AOMH also seeks to boost wellness through health education. The on-site community building is intended for educational lectures about how to prevent disease through purified water, better nutrition through gardening, distribution of mosquito nets, prenatal care, and much more. 

At first glance, it may appear that trying to help the almost 5 million people who currently need healthcare assistance in Nigeria is an impossible task. But it’s like the famous story of the old man who comes across a boy throwing starfish back into the sea on an early morning. The man gazes at the thousands of starfish along the beach as far as the eye could see. “Why are you bothering?,” he asks the boy. “You can’t possibly rescue them all. What difference does it make?” As the boy throws a starfish deep into the ocean, he replies to the old man, “It made a difference to that one.” 

Vision Africa wants to make a difference to as many lives as we can. We strive to keep our eyes on God and on the people to whom we can make a difference. We pray it will be many hundreds of thousands. But even if it is just one single starfish, we will have made a difference. And God’s heart will be gladdened.

Will you help us rescue lives stranded on the beach of an uncertain future? You can give hope to faces like those below. Just click on the Donate button below and mark your gift for “AOMH” in the comments section. Alternatively, you can mail a check made out to Vision Africa Ministries to P.O. Box 600008, Dallas, TX 75360.

Throw a starfish back today.  And thank God that you can make a difference.