About Us

We introduce to you the DIABETES & HYPERTENSION HELP SOCIETY, a registered non governmental and not for profit organisation working to manage and prevent diabetes and hypertension/promote better health.

Our Mission

Our mission is to fight diabetes and hypertension plus promote better health.

Our Objectives

• To create awareness about diabetes and hypertension.
• To offer free blood sugar level and blood pressure checks.
• To subsidize medication for those who suffer and cannot afford it.
• To advise, counsel and refer to experts, sufferers of these two conditions.
• To collaborate with other organizations and/or individuals to achieve our aims.

What We Do!

We give positive help and advice to people who think they may be suffering. Do you think you may have Diabetes? Or someone in your family? You need to test for the amount of sugar in your blood.
That doesn’t mean you have to go to a doctor or clinic, give a blood sample, wait whilst it is analyzed at a lab and get the result in 2 days. No!!! It can be done on the spot and almost instantly, far less costly.

That is what we are doing and that is what we do for free! In bringing free blood tests to the people in rural areas the immediate danger can be recognised and something can be done right there and then. Chief Stanley of Port Harcourt would most probably still enjoy the presence of his beloved mother in law had she had the chance to do the test that we are providing in time.

We have a clear understanding of how we intend to tackle the problem in Nigeria and have taken huge steps to make an impact. Since we became active in December 2006, we have tested forty thousand people in both rural and urban areas (details will be provided upon request). These field exercises have alerted us to a high incidence of diabetes and hypertension.

Interestingly, we see a lot of high blood sugar in the cities (perhaps because they can afford all the sweet high glucose foods) and low blood sugar in the villages (perhaps because of poverty resulting to less food) whilst the high blood pressure cuts across evenly.

The DHS Story

I lost my dad when I was very young. I had looked forward to having him around for many years ahead. I didn’t understand why he died. I found out afterwards that he had suffered from diabetes. I am a Nigerian, trained as a lawyer and had no idea about the condition called diabetes. I didn’t know that most normal bodies produce enough insulin naturally to process all the sugars present inside the food we eat because I never paid attention. For many millions (like my dad) the body doesn’t work as it should, it doesn’t produce enough insulin and even if it does, the insulin does not work properly. So the sugar doesn’t get processed, it builds up inside the body: eventually causing great damage if left untreated. It sounds so simple, and it is really so.

It doesn’t produce a rash rather it appears invisible as well as silent in its early stages, so most sufferers don’t even know that they have a problem, they just feel that something is not right. They may suffer in silence, and whilst they do, their body is also suffering inside. My dad was a bright man, very educated and had the means to manage his health. Yet he was ignorant of diabetes and it was because of ignorance that I lost him.Yet the irony is that finding out if you have diabetes is quite simple, and so is the management in a lot of cases. I am determined that none of you should have to lose your dad, or mum, or your children for the same reason as I did. I want to dispel the ignorance.
That is why we- myself, Lothar Rapior and our team of foreign and local volunteers deserve to have your help. Not everyone can make a difference but, because of your ability and your position, you can.

“The world is becoming a smaller place, yet it appears that many problems seem to become bigger” .

She wanted to make a difference (and now she does). I didn't hear Adanma's story in quite the same way that she has just told it to you because, by the time I met her, she had managed to convert her feelings of loss into an absolute ‘Determination’ (with a capital 'D') that she wanted to make a difference. Diabetes is a multifaceted disease that produces so many symptoms that the normal rural person (and even most city dwellers) have no chance of knowing about and much to my surprise, the sudden death of people is most widely seen as an act of black magic or some spirit intervention, when in reality all there is, is a way too high blood sugar (glucose) level that kills the person.

Coming to Nigeria each time, re-kindles time and time again a vision born in the heart of Adanma Odefa, that she, myself, and well meaning Nigerians as well as supporting foreigners can be the guiding light for a charity that can make a difference in the lives of so many Nigerians.

That is our common goal.

 

Trustees

Senator Dr. J. N. Shagaya OFR, currently a distinguished senator of Nigeria was a career military officer who has served his country faithfully in various capacities including as a minister of Internal Affairs. He retired at the rank of Brigadier General. The gentleman, who comes from Lantang in Plateau State, noticed some years ago that diabetes is a major cause of death amongst his people.

It is because of this that he would like to reach out to his people as well as other communities in Nigeria which find themselves in the same situation through his involvement with the DIABETES & HYPERTENSION HELP SOCIETY.

Prof Michael Asuzu is presently a professor of public health and community medicine, College of Medicine, University College Hospital, Ibadan. He is also the consultant Community and Occupational Physician, University College Hospital, Ibadan. Amongst several other positions, he is the current national chairman Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria, member Advisory Board of Nigeria Health Review Advisory Committee, Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria.

He was a senior lecturer/ consultant Fiji School of Medicine and Ministry of Health, Suva, Fiji Islands. Micheal Asuzu has made several publications in medicine. He guides us expertly on medical and public health issues.

 

Mrs Beatrice Eluaka is a well trained nutritionist and dietician. She was the Head / Focal Person Gender / Women's Health Development under the Federal Ministry of Health. She was also a national general secretary, publicity secretary and president of the Nutrition Society of Nigeria. Beatrice's daughter was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 8 and died at age 12 of this disorder.

This explains her involvement with DHS. She hopes to reach parents with diabetic children and help them achieve a better result than she was able to. Beatrice is currently working on a local dietary plan for people with diabetes and hypertension. She is our adviser on nutrition and diet.

Mr Lothar Rapior is a German employed by Lufthansa Airlines. He has been visiting Nigeria for over 29 years and has been involved in charity and healing work internationally. He is also involved in an international Natural Agriculture Project currently under way in Japan, Germany, England, Turkey, USA, Canada and Zambia. He sees this approach to healthier food as one way to a better and more healthy life.

Lothar says he has fallen in love with Nigeria and hopes to help the people of Nigeria through DHS in combating diabetes and hypertension. He is our global representative and liaison.

Adanma Odefa is trained as a lawyer and a professional manager. She had a firsthand experience of the devastation diabetes can cause when she lost her father and her mother's blood pressure became high as a result of this death. Adanma is passionately committed to working against diabetes and hypertension so as to prevent as many deaths from these two conditions as is possible.

This is why she founded the DIABETES & HYPERTENSION HELP SOCIETY to give hope and help against diabetes and hypertension.