Clear Solutions

Their proactive, community-based approach makes life-saving treatments readily available to families who need them most.

What problem are they trying to solve?

Diarrhea is currently the third leading cause of death in children under five in Nigeria, causing approximately 98,000 deaths each year. Unlike other major causes of childhood mortality such as malaria or tuberculosis, diarrhea can be effectively treated with simple oral medications. However, without proactive distribution systems and local healthcare workers to provide these treatments, many children lack access to these interventions when they need them.

What do they do?

Clear Solutions takes a community-based approach to making diarrhea treatment accessible. They train and support community health workers who visit homes throughout Nigeria to provide oral rehydration solution (ORS) sachets and zinc tablets. These treatments are both inexpensive—costing less than $0.60 per course—and simple to administer, making them ideal for distribution through community health networks.

The organization focuses on creating sustainable local healthcare capacity by working through existing community structures. Their community health workers not only distribute treatments but also educate families about proper usage and prevention, helping to build long-term health knowledge within communities.

Why do we recommend them?

Clear Solutions' approach is backed by strong evidence of effectiveness. Recent randomized controlled trials in similar contexts have shown that providing ORS and zinc through community health workers can increase treatment uptake to 77% in target communities.¹ This represents a significant improvement over typical usage rates of around 42%.

The scale of potential impact is substantial. While there are other organizations working on this issue in Nigeria, the problem remains large enough that multiple effective interventions are needed—there are approximately 35 million children under five in Nigeria, and current programs reach only a small fraction of those in need.

What would they do with more funding?

Additional funding would enable Clear Solutions to expand their reach to more communities across Nigeria. Specifically, they would use new funding to train additional community health workers and purchase ORS and zinc supplies for distribution. Their model is highly scalable, with each new health worker able to serve an entire local ward. Given the marginal nature of their costs—primarily treatments and health worker support—additional funding translates directly into more children served. Supporting Clear Solutions represents an opportunity to prevent childhood deaths through a proven, cost-effective intervention that can be rapidly scaled to reach more communities in need.

Notes

1. See Wagner et al (2019). ↩