CONSTRUCTION BEGAN ON FEBRUARY 7!
It was big day in Dumbo Village when everyone came together to RAISE THE ROOF for Unite for Health’s first custom, sustainable Maternal Mini-Clinic in our founder Elvis’ childhood home in remote NW Cameroon.
Women gathered to mix soil, sand and water to mold bricks that dry in the sun for the walls. Men came on mopeds to transport water, and to collect sand and rocks for the foundation. Unite for Health provided refreshments on the launch day.
The goal is to build the structure and raise the roof before the rains come – while we continue to raise funds to dig the water bore hole, install solar panels, and procure equipment, furniture and medical supplies and hire staff to open the Mini-Clinic’s doors to local mamas and babies.
It’s a giant leap forward to demonstrate that our community-led approach will dramatically prevent maternal and child mortality in this rural subdivision, and prove that this model is economically scalable for other villages across Sub-Saharan Africa.
A giant thank you to our donors, the construction committee and the ongoing energetic participation of the women and the men of Dumbo!
when MOTHERS do well, life improves for everyone
Helping women entrepreneurs succeed in our founder’s remote childhood village is a Model for sub-saharan Africa
THe 2025 misaje shaa festival WAS BIG news in Cameroon!
Thanks to a grant from THE American Express Leadership Academy
we are collecting data ON 170 pregnanT WOMEN in MISAJE SUBDIVISION, CAMEROON
We operated a Maternal & Child Health Program during our Misaje Shaa Festival last September. We provided free Ante Natal Care (ANC) screenings including ultrasounds to 170 pregnant women. Now we are tracking the health outcomes of them and their babies.
WHAT’s inside our free MAMA KITs?
Most pregnant women in Misaje can’t afford to buy even the most basic things. Each Mama Kit we give out contains essentials for giving birth, such as surgical gloves, an umbilical cord clamp, and disinfectant. It also has much-needed things for a baby like a bottle, bibs, clothes, blankets, and a thermometer, and items for a new mother such as sanitary pads, lotion and soap. Gifts that women appreciate more than words can say.
Watch for our final 2025 Maternal & Child Health Report
The data will prove that when pregnant women get access to full prenatal screenings and medically-supervised deliveries, almost all maternal and child deaths can be prevented. That’s why the community in Dumbo Village is excited to build our Maternal Mini-Clinic, for the health of all mamas and babies.
TWO COLLEGE STUDENTS created UNITE to run, a 5K fundraiser!
RUN/WALK on March 15 in TAMPA, FL
The funds raised will PROVIDE MORE MAMA KITS to pregnant women in Misaje subdivision.
Elvis Ndansi founded Unite for Health with firsthand experience of healthcare access in ‘last mile’ communities.
Elvis grew up in Dumbo, a rural village in NW Cameroon where his mother, who only qualified as a nurse’s aide, was the only medical professional for miles around. Everyone called her ‘docta’. Years later, when he himself was working as a young nurse in another remote village, he witnessed the tragic yet avoidable death of a baby boy whose mother lived too far away.
Elvis understands the culture, the problems, and the dire consequences inadequate access to healthcare brings, and knows how to design community-driven solutions. In 2007, he founded Unite for Health Foundation (U4H) specifically to offer basic healthcare to help pregnant mothers and children.
In 2013, the organization decided to focus its mission on the 12 villages of Misaje Subdivision, Elvis’ childhood home.
Finding inventive ways to help families thrive.
Unite for Health reaches out in innovative ways to bring maternal healthcare, ANC screenings, hygiene and health education to vulnerable women who need it the most. Our annual Misaje Shaa Festival helps women invest in their business ventures and encourages mothers to educate their children. We know entrepreneurial women who succeed build healthier families that strengthen communities.
We believe in every mother’s right to survive and thrive, wherever they live. That’s why your support of Unite for Health helps create a happier, healthier, more equitable world for all of us, one village at a time.
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Unite for Health wins CENPA'S prestigious NGO of the Year Award.
“In a world ravaged by poverty, injustice and inequality, organizations like Unite for Health shine brightly as beacons of hope. ”
Prizes included cash, fertilizer and agricultural tools, scholarships with school supplies for orphans, and nursing and midwifery scholarships for graduating seniors.
Shey Stella, the overall winner, gets a certificate and a cash prize that will help her pay for her children’s education.
Photos courtesy of Hilltopvoices.
PROJECTS
Giving pregnant women free ultrasounds.
Our International Women’s Day Maternal & Child Health Program attracted 200 women in Dumbo, a rural village. They learned about prenatal health and family planning. 88% of the 50 woman who were pregnant got their first ever ultrasound, free.
Galvanizing women ‘shaa’-makers.
In Misaje, ‘Shaa’ is a much-loved drink made by women that is traditionally drunk from a shared cup rinsed in a bucket of water, a ritual that can spread cholera, typhoid or tuberculosis. In 2013, Elvis created a festival to help these women in surprising ways.
spreading hope, One Home At A Time.
In collaboration with Bronco Power Boost and Internetbar.org, we distributed Medical & Solar Power Kits to five families in Oku, a rural village of subsistence farmers. With inadequate healthcare and years of no electricity, a light and a thermometer change lives.
helping EVERY BABY get a healthy start.
Every child has the right to a safe, medically supervised delivery. Unite for Health has never turned away a pregnant woman for not being able to pay. IDP or underprivileged, mothers leave our micro-clinics grateful for a free delivery and a healthy newborn.
“Here in the U.S., Elvis Ndansi is one of the few founders of an international nonprofit doing work in Africa that actually comes from Africa. ”
What makes us different.
OUR FOUNDER
Elvis Ndansi, our Founder & President, is an Obama Foundation Scholar as well as a certified medical professional.
maternal & child health
Unite for Health’s mission to combat maternal & infant mortality is especially vital for underprivileged and IDP mothers.
community outreach
We find inventive ways to reach out to women in rural communities who need healthcare the most.
our impact
We never turn anyone away so this underprivileged mother’s baby was delivered safely, completely free of charge.
technology & INNOVATION
Our Maternal Mini-Clinic is designed to bring maternal and prenatal healthcare to villages that need it the most.
OUR story
Roseline Leh Ndansi, a nurse who was known in Misaje village as ‘docta’, inspired her son, Elvis, to become a nurse too.