Despite Funding Challenges, Osun Medical Students Bridge Public Health Gaps with Innovative Initiatives (II)
Last year, two medical students of Osun State University conceived ‘Pad a Girl’ initiative to address menstrual hygiene. This, according to them, was borne out of the need to salvage Nigeria’s millions of women and girls’ common experience on what’s technically known as “period poverty.”
Period poverty, defined by UN Women as the inability of women to afford menstrual products and necessary education needed to maintain menstrual hygiene, is rampant in Nigeria. The situation was reported worsen in 2024 with an estimated 37 million girls and women unable to afford menstrual products to maintain good menstrual hygiene.
This, among others, necessitates the need for such initiative, which is believed promising and was truly needed in Nigeria’s ecosystem considering several distressing reports on Nigeria’s women in rural communities experiencing acute period poverty.
But to carry out this initiative, the two medical students, Oluwaferanmi Ayanwamide and Abimbola Ajani, needed funds which they couldn’t get. After several conversations and reaching out to different individuals and organisations whom they believed should help, both ambitious medical students met with an outright disappointment.

“As a female, the ‘Pad a Girl’ outreach was personal for me, I took it personally,” Ayanwamide said while speaking to this reporter on the outreach she led in her capacity as the OSUMSA Local Officer of the Technical Office on Water Sanitation and Hygiene (TOWASH) alongside the OSUMSA Local Officer for Medical Women Association of Nigeria (MWAN), Ajani.
Ayanwamide said she “personally sent emails to about four pad companies, and none of them got back to” her. This somewhat wanted to stall the intended outreach, however, both medical students’ determination fueled their passion to never give up.
“We reached out to an organization, Value Re-orientation for Community Enhancement (VARCE) and they supported with what they could. We were disappointed by some of the people who promised to support us. The Rotaract Club of Osun State University pulled out just a few days to the program and that dealt us a big blow but we were still able to make it happen, they still supported us with N12,000 but it was far below what we were expecting from them. We had to personally fund the project, though we also crowdsource for funds,” Ajani said while reacting to questions on sponsorship and support for the project.

In the end, despite funding challenges, both Ayanwamide and Ajani pulled through. They led a team of volunteers to Sabo Community, Olutimehin Grammar School, and Union Baptist Model College, Osogbo, for menstrual hygiene outreach tagged ‘Pad a Girl.’ They did it, commemorating 2024 World Menstrual Hygiene Day.
“We were able to reach out to more than 600 girls and women, targeting girls between the ages of 9 and 18 years,” Ayanwamide said.
The project was a collaboration with TOWASH. Ajani said, “MWAN was able to collaborate with TOWASH because we found a common purpose that serves the interest of women and hygiene at the same time, I mentioned it that it was part of my plan and that was how TOWASH keyed into it and we partnered to make it happen,” she stated.
The Adejumo Sickle Cell Alliance
While medical students at Osun State University are leveraging their Association to make impacts within their community in the first part of this series, a 500-level medical student, Daniel Adejumo, is taking a step further by advocating for the reduction of the prevalence of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) through his student-led Non-Governmental Organization, The Adejumo Sickle Cell Alliance (TASCA).
Nigeria has the highest burden of SCD in the world and 1 out of every 4 Nigerians has a sickle cell trait. There have been concerted efforts to reduce the prevalence of the disease by stakeholders at all levels.
On 30th October 2024, a bill seeking to make genotype tests compulsory for people planning to get married passed its first reading at the House of Representatives. ‘The Compulsory Genotype Screening Bill 2024’ which was sponsored by Akin Rotimi requires all couples in Nigeria to undergo genotype testing before obtaining a marriage certificate. It is seeking to prohibit marriage between couples with incompatible haemoglobin (genotype) in a bid to reduce the incidence of sickle cell disease.
In 2017, Senator Ahmed Salau Ogembe and Senator Ovie Omo-Agege similarly sponsored a bill titled ‘The Compulsory Haemoglobin-Genotype Screening Test,’ which made statutory provision for compulsory screening of intending couples. One objective of the bill was to improve the lives of citizens living with it. Though the bill passed a second reading at the time, there is no new information regarding its status.
SCD is a life-long genetic disorder of haemoglobin within the human red blood cell, the sickle-shaped red blood cells cause recurrent pain and complications that affect the quality life of patients. A report said only about 5% of children born with SCD live past the age of 10 years in Nigeria.
In a chat with The Harbinger, Adejumo spoke on the Maiden TASCA Sickle Cell Week held in October 2024 themed ‘caring together, wellness and crises management in sickle cell disease,’ and the need to focus on ‘Sickle Cell Warriors’ – a euphemism for sickle cell patients.
“It was borne out of my obstetrics and gynaecology clinical posting experience, O&G used to be a happy unit because babies are being brought to life so it’s always a joyful thing. But the first case of mortality that I witnessed in O&G was that of a sickle cell warrior who died alongside her baby. It was very painful,” Adejumo said while trying to explain the inspiration behind TASCA.
Adejumo added that his organisation officially commenced activities in 2024 with an outreach to a school in Osogbo. “We have three core missions, the first is effective advocacy and awareness programs to all age groups, it’s the simplest and the most important, because when people are informed, it helps them make better-informed decisions, it also helps them enlighten people around them that are sickle cell warriors,” he said while listing the activities of the organisation.
He continued: “The second mission is genotype testing, that is one thing we’ve been doing, we also aim to do it on a larger scale. Nigeria is a country where a lot of people don’t have it easy in terms of finances, so we want to make the testing freely available to people. The last mission is also consultation and support for existing sickle cell warriors.
Adejumo envisions a Nigeria, where every common man knows their genotype and can use the information about their genotype to make informed decisions.

TASCA Sickle Cell Week
The organization at its weeklong maiden Sickle Cell Week carried out various activities from Tuesday 8th to Saturday 12th October 2024. The program included a sensitisation visit to PRODA Academy and Ogidan Grammar School, both in Osogbo. The program also featured a visit to the National Youth Service Corps secretariat at the Osogbo Local Government Area and a quiz competition amongst medical students from different medical schools
“On Friday, we had a sickle cell webinar where we invited a medical expert in sickle cell management, Professor Victor Mabayoje. We also brought the founder of a sickle cell NGO who has been very supportive of us, Mrs Modupe Sijuade, the Founder of ModupeIre Sickle Cell Advocacy Initiative, where they spoke on the theme of the program.”
The grand finale of the weeklong program which was the sickle cell outreach and genotype testing was held at Sasa Market, Osogbo on the 12th of October 2024. “We had volunteers who were divided into groups and they reached out to market men and women and informed them about the sickle cell disease and encouraged them to come and get their genotype test done. The turnout was massive and we tested more than 150 people. We made use of a rapid diagnostic test kit for the tests.” Adejumo said while commenting on the program organized by his organization.
TASCA Underfunded Innovation
The young founder identified funding as a major limitation facing his organization. “Regardless of how innovative our aspirations are, there is nothing we can do without funds; hence, we have to cut our coats according to our arms and just do things within our power,” he said while speaking on the challenges facing the organization and its activities.
Adejumo revealed that he has been personally funding the organization since its inception but had to reach out to individuals and bigger organizations when plans for the sickle cell week began. He added that the partnership with ModupeIre Sickle Cell Advocacy Initiative yielded the rapid diagnostic test kit used for the outreach.
“I have been funding TASCA but when we started planning for the sickle cell week, we knew we had to seek support, we got about 180 to 200 rapid diagnostic test kits (RDT) from ModupeIre Sickle Cell Advocacy Initiative. The kits are very expensive each of them costs about N5000. Unlike other tests, genotype RDT is more expensive than laboratory tests. With that partnership, we were able to indirectly raise about a million naira in terms of the kit used for the tests,” Adejumo said while describing how the organization has been surmounting funding challenges. He added that friends and colleagues also supported him with donations and their presence.
“We don’t necessarily need to be a victim before we start taking action”
He however admonished young people to be intentional about the changes they wish to see by active involvement in community service. “As young, innovative leaders who are passionate and dedicated to social impacts, we can start doing great things from small places. We should understand that the little we do goes a long way further than we expect. we should always be on the lookout in our environment for ways we can give back to society and help people, we don’t necessarily need to be a victim of something before we start taking action.
“Most of the time, people ask if I’m a sickle cell warrior, I always tell them I’m not, I don’t have a sickle cell trait, I’m HbAA. But the fact that I’ve been able to understand that this thing is very prevalent in my environment, I’ve identified it as something I want to work on.
A sickle cell warrior who also volunteered for the outreach who wishes to be identified as Tayo emphasized the need for such a project to reduce the spread of the disease. It is important to have programs like this to inform people, though it shouldn’t be reduced to something that will happen once in a year, it’s something that we should continually engage people on to prevent avoidable errors,” Tayo said during an interview with The Harbinger.
However, he admonished people who are already aware to spread what he called the “gospel of SCD” by telling those who may not be informed to get their genotype test done and know where they belong. I followed the activities of the TASCA program. It was quite informative. Though I knew about those things prior, it was going to be very useful for those who may not have the information. I believe it will also encourage other people to extend a hand of fellowship to sickle cell warriors.
This report is a two-part series. This is the second series. Read the first part here.
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