Programs

Programs Designed to Save Lives

Every HTWC program is designed around one insight: the barriers between a Nigerian woman and life-saving health care are almost never medical. They are informational, cultural, economic, and geographic. Our programs attack all four barriers simultaneously.

Cervical Cancer Prevention Program

The Problem: Nigeria has one of the highest rates of cervical cancer incidence and mortality in the world. Most cases are diagnosed at late stages — when treatment options are limited and outcomes are poor. The primary cause is not lack of medicine. It is lack of awareness and access to early screening.

What We Do:

  • Free and subsidised cervical cancer screenings at partner primary health centres
  • HPV vaccination drives — particularly targeting adolescent girls and young women
  • Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) training for community health workers
  • Referral networks connecting women with early-stage cervical abnormalities to treatment

Impact to Date: 200+ screening referrals issued. Multiple cases of early-stage cervical abnormalities identified and referred to treatment.

Public Health Education Program

The Problem: Mainstream health education in Nigeria is delivered in English, using medical terminology, through channels that don’t reach rural and semi-urban women. The result: vast populations who are effectively invisible to the health system.

What We Do:

  • Health education materials developed in Ibibio, Oron, Ekid, and English
  • Community storytelling sessions that translate medical facts into culturally resonant narratives
  • Visual education resources for women with limited literacy
  • WhatsApp-based health information distribution reaching women’s groups across Akwa Ibom
  • Partnership with local churches, mosques, and community leaders to amplify health messages through trusted channels

Impact to Date: 40,000+ women reached across online and offline channels. 97% of outreach participants report increased awareness after engagement.

Community Ambassador Program

The Problem: External health workers are often mistrusted in communities they don’t belong to. The most effective health education comes from people communities already know, trust, and respect.

What We Do:

  • Recruit, train, and deploy community women as Health Ambassadors in their own neighbourhoods
  • Provide ongoing training, support materials, and supervision to ambassadors
  • Build a tiered volunteer structure: ambassador → team leader → coordinator
  • Recognise and celebrate ambassador achievements through certification and public recognition

Impact to Date: 357 trained ambassadors deployed across Akwa Ibom State.

Market Activation Program

The Problem: Women in Nigeria’s market communities are among the hardest to reach through conventional health outreach — they are busy, skeptical of formal institutions, and rarely visit health centres unless sick.

What We Do:

  • High-energy, culturally vibrant market activation events that bring health education into familiar spaces
  • On-the-spot health education, Q&A, and referrals conducted by trained volunteers
  • Free educational materials distributed in local languages
  • Engagement through music, drama, and storytelling to create memorable, shareable experiences

Impact to Date: 12 market activations completed. Average reach per activation: 250 women. Total estimated reach through activations: 3,000+ women.

Radio Health Education Program

The Problem: Internet penetration in rural Akwa Ibom remains limited. For many women, community radio is the primary information channel — yet health education content in local languages is almost non-existent on these stations.

What We Do:

  • Weekly health education broadcasts on partner radio stations
  • Programs delivered in Ibibio and English by trained health communicators
  • Call-in segments allowing listeners to ask questions in real time
  • Partnerships with local radio personalities to amplify reach and credibility

Estimated Reach: 15,000+ listeners per broadcast episode.

Economic Empowerment Program

The Problem: Women who cannot afford screening, transportation to health centres, or time away from income-generating activities are effectively excluded from the health system regardless of their awareness levels.

What We Do:

  • Skills training workshops — tailoring, soap-making, food processing, digital skills — for women in our program areas
  • Business development support for women starting small enterprises
  • Linkage to microfinance institutions and savings groups
  • Integration of health education into all economic empowerment programming

Philosophy: Economic dignity and health dignity are inseparable. A woman who can support herself is a woman who can invest in her health.

Get Involved in Our Programs

Our programs run on the energy, skills, and resources that people like you bring to them.

  • Volunteer — become a Community Health Ambassador: Apply here
  • Donate — fund a specific program: Give here
  • Partner — bring your organisation’s resources to our programs: Learn more