Pillar Initiatives Aid Foundation (PIAF) has expanded its partnership with Health Emergency Initiative (HEI) for the fourth consecutive year, increasing funding to provide emergency medical support for indigent women and children amid worsening economic conditions limiting access to timely healthcare.
The renewed collaboration comes as Nigeria continues to record one of the world’s highest under-five mortality rates, with preventable conditions remaining a leading cause of childhood deaths.
Between June and August 2025, the partnership supported 48 patients, including 31 children aged 0 to 10, across 16 public hospitals in Lagos, Ondo, Abuja, and Kaduna. All patients assisted recorded full clinical recovery, reflecting a 100 percent survival rate. The interventions addressed conditions such as sepsis, severe malaria, pneumonia, and acute malnutrition—emergencies that continue to account for a significant share of pediatric mortality nationwide.
PIAF’s increased allocation this year responds directly to the current economic reality, where inflation and household income constraints have widened access gaps for families unable to afford urgent care at the point of need.
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Funmi Babatunde-Dada, co-ounder of PIAF, emphasised the urgency of early intervention. “When a child presents with a treatable condition but cannot access care because of cost, we lose that child to circumstance, not to medicine. Emergency health financing is not charity; it is a necessity. We remain committed to this work because the evidence shows it saves lives.”
HEI, which has provided emergency assistance to over 50,000 individuals since inception, including 6,870 critically injured accident victims across 16 states, continues to work with government facilities to close access gaps for patients in crisis. The organisation has received recognition including the Best Supporting NGO Award from the Lagos State Health Service Commission and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).
Paschal Achunine, executive director of HEI and an Ashoka Fellow, expressed appreciation for PIAF’s sustained commitment. “PIAF has remained a dependable partner in emergency healthcare access over the past four years. Their responsiveness to Nigeria’s evolving economic conditions demonstrates the kind of partnership this sector needs—one that adapts to reality, not rhetoric. We call on more organisations to join this effort.
The healthcare access crisis will not be resolved by any single actor; it requires collaborative and sustained action.”
Both organisations noted that emergency health financing must remain a policy and philanthropic priority, warning that delayed care due to cost continues to drive avoidable deaths among children and low-income patients.
