Half Marathon in aid of Ghanaian hospital

Hello kind people who have clicked into my gofundme! Thank you in advance for reading :)

This summer I spent 6 weeks in Ghana on placement in Holy Family Hospital in Nkawkaw, a rural district hospital 4 hours from Accra. In Ghana, many people do not have health insurance, meaning that the cost of basic medical care is often not covered. This can include blood tests, blood transfusions, and even medications for common conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

One such example that struck a cord with me was the many children with sickle cell anaemia. During our stay I attended various clinics focusing on specific diseases, such as HIV, diabetes, and Sickle cell anaemia. Sickle cell is a hereditary condition, 27% prevalent in Ghana compared to 0.00012% in Ireland, which significantly effects the lives of children who have the disease. As there is no common newborn screening programme in place in Ghana yet, children often present to hospital with symptoms such as strokes (ranging from multiple small strokes to larger, more life-threatening strokes), severe bone pain, and clots in the lungs. Many children develop both physical and intellectual disabilities due to this blood disorder. Many of these issues would be significantly less frequent if the children could take medication to prevent the clots. Sadly, many parents, who may have multiple children affected by the disease as well as possibly having the disease themselves, cannot afford the expensive medication necessary for their children to make it through childhood before they can receive the cheaper adult dose of the necessary drugs.

Dr Danso, the amazing paediatrician working at this hospital, has set up a social fund in the hospital in which staff members can donate some of their already relatively small salary, when possible. This is a communal pot which can be acessed if patients are struggling to find the money to cover the cost of their healthcare. This money is safely held by the You4Ghana organisation, with whom I was working during the summer, and can be accessed for a specific patient in need. The social fund ran out while I was working in Ghana, leaving many families without options.

Having access to this social fund could change the lives of many patients, particularly those of the children with sickle cell. As a child, the sickle cell medication costs approximately €15 per month, which is out of reach for many patients. By raising my goal of €1000, we could better the lives of so many families in rural Ghana.

On September 23rd, I will be running the Phoenix Park half marathon, to raise money for this social fund. If you are in a position to be able to donate, I would be very grateful, and if not, a share would be hugely appreciated! If you have gotten this far, thank you so much for your faith in me!!

Toria xx