A Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Dr Richard Ajayi, has called for culturally responsive reproductive healthcare across Africa, urging healthcare providers, governments and investors to align specialised medical services with the continent’s diverse cultural and religious realities.
Ajayi, the Founder and Executive Vice Chairman of Bridge Clinic Fertility Centre, Lagos, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday.
He warned against treating Africa as a single healthcare market, saying such an approach ignores the continent’s cultural, religious and social diversity, particularly in specialised fields like reproductive medicine.
According to him, healthcare systems that fail to recognise these differences risk losing public trust and limiting access to quality medical care.
“When global investors and health system architects look at Africa, they often treat it as a single, homogeneous market. That is a significant structural error because Africa is not a monolith, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the deployment of specialised medicine,” he said.
Ajayi said his nearly three decades of experience in fertility care had shown that patients’ beliefs, expectations and treatment preferences differ widely across regions.
He explained that while consultations in many parts of Southern Nigeria often focus on educating patients about infertility, reproductive biology and treatment options, healthcare delivery in parts of Northern Nigeria requires greater sensitivity to religious beliefs that shape medical decisions.
The fertility expert noted that treatment options such as donor eggs, donor sperm and gestational surrogacy may not be acceptable to some patients because of their faith.
“There is little value in recommending options that patients consider religiously unacceptable. Healthcare providers must first understand the communities they serve and deliver care that respects patients’ values while maintaining the highest ethical and professional standards,” he added.
Ajayi stressed that culturally responsive healthcare does not mean compromising scientific or clinical standards.
Instead, he said it involves adapting healthcare delivery to local realities while maintaining quality, patient safety and evidence-based medical practice.
He emphasised that patient-centred care requires empathy, cultural competence and effective communication, especially in specialised medical fields where treatment decisions are often influenced by personal beliefs and family values.
According to him, expanding specialised healthcare services across Africa will require flexible health systems capable of serving the continent’s diverse populations.
“We cannot successfully scale healthcare across emerging markets by imposing one standardised clinical model on every community. We must build healthcare systems that respect local values, uphold ethical practice and deliver world-class care within the cultural context of the people they serve,” Ajayi said.
He urged governments, development partners and private investors to incorporate cultural considerations into healthcare planning, noting that such an approach would strengthen patient confidence, improve access to services and deliver better health outcomes.
Ajayi added that recognising Africa’s cultural diversity is essential to building resilient, inclusive and sustainable health systems, while also advancing universal health coverage and expanding access to reproductive healthcare across the continent.
source: NAN
