St. mary's hospital is a district hospital located in okpoga, in southern nigeria

St. Mary's Hospital is in Okpoga, in southern Nigeria. Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa with 200 million inhabitants. Nigeria's capital, Abuja, alone has almost ten million inhabitants. Nigeria is a country with great cultural diversity. Throughout the country, 514 different languages and dialects are spoken. The official language is English. Nigeria is one of the poorest countries in the world with a Human Development Index of 0.529 (152/188th rank). 46% of the population lives below the national poverty threshold. In terms of the World Bank poverty threshold, 53.5% of the people in Nigeria live in absolute poverty of less than $2 per day.  

Life expectancy in 2015 was 51.2 years for men and 52.6 years for women, which is one of the lowest life expectancies in the world. The birth rate per 1000 people is 45.4, and the death rate is 15.4. On average, a woman in Nigeria gives birth to 6 children.

From the international airport in Abuja, it takes about 6 hours by car to reach Okpoga. Because of poor road conditions, the trip is often interrupted by a flat tire. However, the road trip provides some insight of the country and the people. 

St. Mary's Hospital was established by the Catholic Diocese of Otukpo about 40 years ago and has since been run by the Sisters of Nativity. The hospital has a capacity of about 140 beds, serving an area of 150,000 patients. In addition to the surgical department, the hospital has a medical clinic, departments for gynecology and obstetrics, pediatrics, and a tuberculosis ward. About 2-3 doctors are responsible for the medical care on site. They usually serve a 1-2 year rotation at St. Mary's Hospital. Due to the frequent rotation of doctors, we focus our  training on the nursing staff.