Crowdfunding is a process of presenting a project, health issue or business, needing financial support, while soliciting from a large group of people to donate. This pattern has gained more popularity over the last few years and it’s now seen as a viable method of getting financial help from the public, majorly via the internet.
Regardless of its new-found popularity, however, statistics show that not all crowdfunding campaigns are reaching their funding goal.
Crowdfunding application in medical field has become an inevitable tool in a way of ensuring or preventing casual deaths due to financial crises mostly common to developing countries like Nigeria.
Some thoughts about crowdfunding in a developed country like America said that when a friend or relative needs help paying medical bills, many Americans are turning their social network into a safety net through a growing number of online fundraising platforms.
In record, crowdfunding has in one way or the other helped several Americans achieve their financial burden in getting donations required for medical bills majorly for life threatening ailments.
In Nigeria, we have had about several death casualties due to financial hindrances and lack of support of basic medical facilities from some medical centers.
Few days ago, report came in that; Rachel Fubara, the Nigerian lady who recently solicited for help on social media to treat a cancer health issue died in India. She was said to have died in India while undergoing treatment on a cancerous thigh.
She made it to India because of the support and donations she received from well-wishers and social media audience through her online campaign about her treatment in India?
There is every tendency that she might still be alive and walking in the midst of the living if a campaign about her medical issue had been ran earlier or responded to on time than it was.
There was a similar event that was reported around March, 2018 that some family members, friends, co-workers, well-wishers, and parents of children living with leukaemia gathered at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, Ikeja to voluntarily donate blood to save the lives of children with leukaemia in memory of Timilehin Oyedele who lost the fight to cancer due to the slow response to her campaign about blood and medical bills donation. Timilehin would have also been alive today if a rapid care and support is rendered on time.
Since the launch of crowdfunding in Nigeria, some platforms like Fundmeng (the GofundMe alternatives in Nigeria) have been able to create some successful campaigns raising donations and having several causes completed saving the life of some Nigerians through the donated funds.
Solution might be if medical centers both private and public in Nigeria encourage and associate with some of these crowdfunding platforms for severe medical cases by advising the affected persons on time to reach out before it turn out messy.
Crowdfunding is the collective effort of a large number of individuals who are perhaps willing to help donating to save people in need of funds for medical issues. We are meant to take advantage of its popularity since medical expenses are now seen as part of the leading cause of bankruptcy to many Nigerians according to recent findings.