In spite of its vast oil reserves, Nigeria ranks among the 20 poorest countries in the world. The medical figures are daunting: life expectancy is 46 years for women and 45 years for men; the infant mortality rate is 103 per 1,000 live births; and the maternal mortality rate is 800 per 100,000 live births. Many suffer from HIV/AIDS, malaria, dysentery and pneumonia.
The numbers motivate third-year law student Afam Onyema to help the country get better. “If you think of a mother who is terrified of losing her baby or losing her own life, a hospital would provide peace of mind so that she’ll survive her pregnancy and her child will have a chance at a full life,” he says. “The intellectual potential in Nigeria is too often stunted by diseases like malaria, sickle-cell anemia and the specter of HIV/AIDS.”
To date, Onyema has raised $75,000 toward the estimated $2.8 million cost of the first stage of Augustine Memorial Hospital, to be built in Anambra State. The outpatient clinic would be followed by a 100-bed facility, and then a 200-bed hospital including trauma and burn units, radiology and mental health departments.
Such a hospital, Onyema says, has been the dream of his father, Goodwin, since he emigrated to the United States in 1974. The elder Onyema is an obstetrician/gynecologist who has practiced in Chicago for 30 years. “Since the 1980s, my dad has been trying to build a hospital in his home state. That whole generation of doctors has always talked about going home, if they had a good facility to go home to. They never planned to retire in Florida.”
Onyema, a former Harvard linebacker, once thought he’d like to be a lawyer with the National Football League. Now he can’t see himself doing anything but making his father’s dream a reality. “They had elections in Nigeria in 1999 and 2003, and they’re inching toward stability, and fighting corruption. So we feel more confident about moving forward with our plans. I get up in the morning wanting to do this.”
