Our Vision, Mission & History

Gede’s Vision is based on a belief that all members of all societies have the right to good health

Gede's Mission
Gede works with those who suffer from underserved and stigmatized health burdens to achieve long term positive change at the community level through high quality research (often into prevalence and impact), catalytic partnerships and advocacy.

Gede's History
For over a decade, Gede ran one of Nigeria’s first one-stop clinics for people living with HIV-AIDS where treatment and care included pre and post testing counselling; the availability of key tests such as CD4 and viral load; a pharmacy where life-saving drugs could be bought – and all provided at the same facility (although Gede also pioneered home based treatment and care) which, at the time of Gede’s inception, was ground breaking and innovative. Over the period 2003-2013, thousands of lives were saved by Gede’s innovative approach to service delivery.

In 2013, the Foundation decided to take its Mission one stage further and started to investigate the unaddressed links between HIV-AIDS and mental illness, as well as exploring, on a wider stage, the mental health challenges facing Nigerian society at large. Since 2013, the Foundation has, (i) published peer reviewed research into the prevalence of common mental disorders in a sample of more than 1000 people living with HIV-AIDS, (ii) Co-Chaired a Government parastatal Technical Working Group which resulted in the country’s National HIV-AIDS Strategic Framework including, for the first time, the integration of mental health into routine HIV-AIDS care and support, (iii) secured Grand Challenges Canada funding to implement a Basic Needs® community based mental health project in Federal Capital Territory, (iv) worked with Catholic Relief Services to culturally adapt and validate a range of mental health screening tools for use in OVC and IDP populations, (v) played a strong leadership role in the development and implementation of OVC projects, (vi) worked with major agencies such as Management Sciences for Health to deliver high quality mental health awareness raising training to HIV-AIDS Counsellors, and, (vii) worked with King’s College London and the Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, Commerce and Manufactures to design a programme of activities which will, from late 2017 onwards, raise awareness about the challenges health systems will face in Nigeria vis-à-vis ageing populations. This work has resulted in Gede being mentioned regularly in the national and international media and has cemented the place of the Foundation as one of the country’s leading civil society organisations in terms of underserved and stigmatized health burdens. Click history for more details.