Why Ooni of Ife supported Ozolua on medical tourism

His Imperial Majesty, Oonirisa Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II, Ooni of Ife, has partnered with Empower 54, a non-profit organisation, to create awareness and promote solutions via medical tourism to end malnutrition in Africa, which currently kills 2.3 million children annually in Nigeria.

The partnership which is anchored on the Ooni’s believes that medical tourism can be effectively planted in Nigeria by eradication of the primary health issues like malnutrition which does not only stunt growth but truncate the mental capability and stamina formation of children in Africa.

The medical tourism initiative of the Ooni of Ife is being enhanced by Empower 54 Project Inc (Empower 54),

A US non-profit organisation providing humanitarian assistance since 2003 through health, education, empowerment, and IDP/refugee programmes to underprivileged Africans.

According to the Founder and President of Empower 54, Princess Modupe Ozolua, Nigeria’s Minister of Health has declared that “one-third, 33 per cent of Nigerian children under five years old suffer from chronic malnutrition” which translates into very disturbing statistics and many innocent lives lost due to lack of sensitisation on early management of malnutrition and accessibility to free treatment.

Princess Ozolua further states: “After Empower 54 evacuated the severely malnourished IDPs children from Bama to Maiduguri on June 13 and 15 2016, we realised more has to be done to save children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) beyond evacuating them from high risk zones for treatment. There are countless non-IDP children suffering from SAM all over Nigeria and other parts of Africa that also need help.”

“Due to His Imperial Majesty’s dedication to humanity, it’s with great honour that he has agreed to lend his voice and passion to the campaign to eradicate malnutrition in Africa, starting in the countries. Princess Ozolua further states: “Empower 54 currently work in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“His Imperial Majesty supports Empower 54’s forward thinking and lives changing initiative by stating: “The menace of malnutrition is creeping deeper into the fabric of our society and we must be tenacious in our fight against this colossal beast by creating a better mechanism; adopt policies and strategies that are capable of combating its rapid expansion. Africa is the wealth of the world with huge human and natural resources and we must form a consensus that would scale up nutrition projects for the greater developments of future leaders that are being crippled daily by our collective negligence.”