Picture Power for Nigeria health project

In late March 2018, Christian Aid (CA) conducted a participatory photography- Picture Power exercise for a CA/DFID funded health project. The project trains community volunteers to provide basic healthcare for children under 5 in Benue State, Nigeria.

We trained 10 participants including men and women of different ages from five communities. The photographs were used as an entry point for Christian Aid staff and the participants to discuss the challenges faced by the communities. The photos were presented at a community-wide exhibition attended by women, children and community leaders.

When presented with the challenges, through the photos, community leaders made commitments to address some of the issues raised by the photographs including lack of clean water, poor infrastructure and social norms affecting children’s health.

Submitted by:
Paula Plaza

Herdsmen attacks on communities

Fulani herdsmen invaded the community, killing and injuring many people. This has made people afraid to go to their farm and has affected their income. Some of the injured were taken to a hospital in town because they needed surgery to remove the bullets. Some went to a traditional healer first because there wasn’t any other form of treatment.

Photographer: Gabriel Adah

Basic healthcare near home

A community health volunteer tests a child for malaria. Before the project, we had to take children to hospital and travel far. Some people don’t have means, but today the project has trained volunteers, so caregivers don’t need to pay or go far when their children get sick. Now, when there’s an emergency they rush to the health volunteer for treatment.

Photographer: John Jerome

Our water hole

Water is very scarce during the dry season, so the community relies on stagnant water from the water hole like this. The stream is far, so people walk a long distance to get water or go to this water hole. It is dirty and makes people sick. It can take up to 3 hours to fill a 25-litre jerry can. The hole place is a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Photographer: Patricia Amali

 

Will Victory win the battle with illness?

Adah Rose, a teenager, gives her 9-month-old younger sister Victory, a cold bath to lower her temperature before taking her to the health volunteer for treatment. In one month, Victory has been treated for malaria, then referred to a Health Practitioner who diagnosed her with typhoid. Victory remains sick despite receiving treatment for different diseases.

Photographer: Steven Adah

Dirty mangoes

Children in Akpuneje community eating unwashed mangoes. Some of the mangoes they eat have been half-eaten by bats. The laws of Akpuneje community forbids its members from climbing the mango trees to pluck the fruits, so they either pick mangoes that have fallen to the ground or throw sticks at the fruits to bring them down. The children eat the fruits without washing them. During mango season, the number or cases of diarrhoea in Akpuneje community increase greatly.

Photographer: Steven Adah