140 Lives Touched: HTYF Brings Integrated Health Care to Durumi Community
When Mrs. C arrived at Heal The Youth Foundation’s Integrated Healthcare Outreach in Durumi with her husband, teenage daughter, and 17-month-old child, she expected a routine HIV test. She left with something much greater—a clearer picture of her family’s health and a pathway to the care they needed.
Routine health screening identified previously undetected health risks in both parents, who received immediate counselling and referrals for follow-up care. Their teenage daughter participated in gender-based violence (GBV) prevention sessions, received a dignity kit, and benefited from adolescent health education. During a routine nutrition assessment, their 17-month-old daughter was diagnosed with Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) and immediately referred to the community Primary Health Care Centre’s Outpatient Therapeutic Programme (OTP) for treatment and ongoing care.
What began as a visit for one service became an opportunity to improve the health and wellbeing of an entire family.
This is the value of an Integrated Healthcare Outreach. By bringing HIV prevention, nutrition services, adolescent health, gender-based violence prevention, and routine health screening together in one community, families receive comprehensive care closer to home, hidden health risks are detected earlier, and people are connected to the support they need before preventable conditions become life-threatening.
“Integrated community-based interventions can effectively address interconnected health, protection, and social challenges all at once.”
HIV Testing: Confidential, Compassionate, Comprehensive
At the heart of the outreach were HIV Testing Services (HTS). A total of 140 community members, surpassing the original target of 100, stepped forward to receive individualized pre-test and post-test counselling, HIV prevention education, and confidential testing. For every person who came, there was a trained counsellor ready to listen, inform, and support.
Those who received reactive results were not left to navigate next steps alone. Each individual was enrolled into a structured follow-up process for confirmatory testing and linkage to treatment services ensuring that early detection translates directly into care.
Nutrition Screening: Catching What Could Be Missed
136 community members received nutrition screening and tailored counselling aimed at promoting healthy dietary practices and preventing nutrition-related illness. But perhaps the most significant outcome was what the screening uncovered: a child presenting with Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM). That child is now receiving targeted follow-up care, a direct result of being in the right place at the right time.
This is what early intervention looks like in practice. Without the outreach, that child may have gone unnoticed for weeks or months longer. Now, there is a plan and a team committed to the child’s recovery.
Empowering Young People: GBV Awareness and Prevention
Safety is not just a physical need—it is a prerequisite for health and wellbeing. Recognising this, HTYF integrated Gender-Based Violence (GBV) awareness and prevention sessions into the outreach for adolescents and young people.
Through interactive discussions, participants learned about personal safety, recognising violence, reporting pathways, and available support services. To further promote dignity and personal wellbeing, 24 adolescents and young people also received dignity kits containing essential personal hygiene items.
Dignity in Action: Welfare Support for Vulnerable Residents
For one teenage participant, the contents of the kit represented more than basic hygiene—they offered immediate financial relief.
“The things in that kit, especially the toothbrush and toothpaste, I would have had to buy them myself. That is almost two thousand naira. Two thousand naira I can now use for something else. It does not sound like much, but when you have very little, it means everything. It means I do not need to depend on someone else this week.”
— Young participant, Durumi Community
For many households, even basic hygiene items compete with daily necessities for limited income. By providing dignity kits alongside health education, HTYF helped reduce immediate financial pressure while promoting healthier and safer practices among adolescents.
More Than Clothing
Alongside health services, HTYF distributed 74.9 kilograms of quality clothing to 136 vulnerable residents, ensuring that essential support extended beyond the clinic.
Each item represented more than fabric. It reduced immediate financial pressure on households, enabled families to redirect limited income to other essential needs, and reminded recipients that they had not been forgotten. At the same time, the initiative transformed generous donations from supporters into meaningful community impact, demonstrating how shared resources can improve lives when placed in the right hands.
A Community Effort: The Partners Who Made It Possible
No outreach of this scale happens without collaboration. HTYF extends its deepest gratitude to the government stakeholders, community leaders, and health partners whose support was central to this success:
- Government stakeholders: FCT Health and Human Services, FCT and AMAC PHCB, and FASCP
- Community leadership: The Durumi 1 Community Chief
- Healthcare providers: Durumi Primary Health Centre
- Partner organisations: IHVN
- Volunteers and members of the Durumi Community
What Comes Next: Lasting Impact, Not a One-Off Event
The Integrated Healthcare outreach in Durumi was not a finish line — it was a starting point. HTYF is committed to ensuring that every individual identified during the outreach receives the follow-up care they need. Referral pathways will be strengthened, and integrated outreach activities will be expanded to reach more underserved communities across the Federal Capital Territory.
Because lasting change is not built in a day. It is built through consistent presence, structured care, and an unwavering belief that every person deserves access to health services no matter where they live.
Partner With Us Today, Help Reach More Communities
Every integrated outreach requires trained health workers, testing supplies, nutrition screening tools, dignity kits, and referral support. Your partnership helps bring these services directly to underserved communities where they are needed most.