Who We Are
JKAiD Hope Foundation is a lifeline for children fighting for survival, grounded in humanity, evidence-based advocacy, and impactful storytelling.
Born from Necessity,
Driven by Purpose
JKAiD Hope Foundation was established in response to a crisis that statistics alone cannot capture: children dying from treatable conditions simply because their families could not afford care. Our founders witnessed this tragedy first-hand: a child turned away from surgery, a family choosing between food and medication, a parent watching helplessly as time ran out.
We began with a single case and a single surgery, and that is still where we are. Bertha Eduley was carried from diagnosis through funded surgery at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital to recovery monitoring. One child, treated properly, with every cedi accounted for against the hospital’s own invoice.
We are not going to dress that up as more than it is. We were incorporated in January 2026. We hold one signed hospital partnership, we have funded one operation, and our work is in Accra. What that first case proves is the pathway: identify a child, verify the family cannot pay, fund the treatment, see it through. What it does not yet prove is that we can do it at scale.
Proving that is the whole of our next phase, and it is gated on funding. The conviction underneath it is simple and it has not changed: a child’s chance at life should not be determined by circumstance.
“A child turned away from surgery. A family choosing between food and medication. A parent watching helplessly as time ran out.”
Why We Exist
37
Out of every 1,000 children in Ghana die before their 5th birthday
1,200
New pediatric cancer cases annually, yet fewer than 4 in 10 complete chemotherapy
34,000+
Children lost every year: nearly 100 every single day
Source: UNICEF. These are national figures for Ghana, not figures about this foundation. What we have done ourselves is reported separately, and is traceable to a hospital invoice in every case.
One child every 15 minutes.
Many from conditions that are preventable with timely medical care.
In Ghana, according to UNICEF, 37 out of every 1,000 children die before their 5th birthday. That is nearly 34,000 children every year. Childhood cancers deepen the crisis. Ghana records about 1,200 new pediatric cancer cases annually, yet fewer than 4 in 10 children complete chemotherapy. Treatment exists, but cost, late diagnosis, and limited access cut care short, turning survivable illnesses into fatal ones.
For most families, a single pediatric surgery costs more than an entire year’s income, forcing parents into impossible choices. Emergency services remain overstretched, where a delay of just 24 hours can mean the difference between life and death. These numbers reflect real children aged 0–12 whose lives are cut short by gaps in care, cost, and access.
JKAiD Hope Foundation exists because these gaps should not decide who lives and who dies.
We close financial barriers through structured health equity financing, strengthen early diagnosis and referral pathways, walk alongside families as care navigators, and drive systemic reform through data and advocacy. But we cannot do this alone. Every contribution, partnership, and shared action translates directly into treatment delivered on time and lives saved.
This is the moment to act. Your support helps close the gap between diagnosis and treatment, delay and survival. Together, we can ensure that a child’s chance at life is not determined by circumstance, income, or time.
Mission & Vision
Our Mission
To enhance survival rates and quality of life for children with critical illnesses by eliminating financial barriers, improving care navigation for families, mobilizing community support, and advocating for equitable child health systems in Ghana.
Our Vision
A Ghana where every child, regardless of income, geography, or circumstance, has timely access to life-saving, high-quality healthcare, and where families facing critical illness are never left to struggle alone.
“JKAiD Hope Foundation exists to close the gap between diagnosis and survival.”
We intervene at the most vulnerable moment in a child’s health journey, when cost, complexity, or lack of information threatens to determine who lives and who does not. Our work is targeted, measurable, and driven by equity.
Our Core Values
These principles guide every decision we make and every interaction we have with our beneficiaries and partners.
Compassion
We treat every child with empathy and unwavering respect.
Integrity
Every resource is used responsibly and accounted for.
Transparency
Open, honest reporting to donors, beneficiaries, and partners.
Child-Centered
Every decision prioritizes the best interest of the child.
Advocacy
We give families a voice and champion their rights.
Community
Collective effort and partnership strengthen impact.
Organizational Structure
Built for accountability, efficiency, and lasting impact. This is the structure we are building toward, not a count of people on the payroll: four of these posts are currently filled, and they are named further down this page. The rest describe work the foundation intends to resource as it grows.
Board of Trustees
5-7 members providing strategic oversight, fiduciary governance, and policy direction.
Technical Advisory Group
External clinical and financing experts lending credibility and technical guidance.
Executive Director
Organizational strategy, partnerships, public positioning, and board liaison.
Director: Child Health Financing & Access
Fund design, disbursement protocols, NHIS engagement, and co-payment frameworks.
Director: Programs & Clinical Partnerships
Hospital relationships, referral pathways, diagnostic grants, and care delivery.
Director: Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning
Impact measurement, equity dashboards, data governance, and learning cycles.
Director: Communications, Resource Mobilization & Partnerships
Fundraising strategy, brand, campaigns, donor relations, public education, and partner and sponsor relationships.
Finance & Compliance Manager
Budgeting, regulatory compliance, audit coordination, and financial reporting.
Accountability & Safeguards
Split into what is running today and what we have committed to but have not built yet. A young organisation has more of the second than the first, and saying which is which is the point of the list.
In place now
Child safeguarding policy
Published, with a named focal point and direct contact details.
Privacy and data protection notice
Published, covering donors, volunteers, and the families we support.
Direct-to-facility disbursement
Funds are released to the hospital against its issued invoice, never to a family in cash.
Case eligibility protocol
Finalised and approved. It decides which children we fund and confirms a family genuinely cannot pay.
Invoice-grounded case budgeting
Each case is budgeted against the hospital's issued invoice rather than an estimate, after our first estimate proved roughly a quarter of the true cost.
Weekly management meetings
The standing coordination structure, running since the leadership kickoff.
Committed, not yet in place
Quarterly board dashboard reviews
In progress. Management reports to the Chairman of the Board, and the reporting cycle is being put on a quarterly footing.
Annual independent external audit
Not yet held. We were incorporated in January 2026 and have not completed a full financial year.
Public annual impact report
Not yet published. We will publish one covering a complete year of operation rather than a partial one.
Conflict-of-interest policy for all leadership
Committed, not yet adopted.
Case-level audit sampling
Committed. It becomes meaningful once there is a cohort of cases to sample from.
Leadership & Governance
A lean, mission-driven team supported by independent oversight.
Dr. JohnKennedy Anyanwu
Founder
Founded the organisation and was authorised by the Board to execute its registration and licensing in Ghana. Set its founding objectives: medical support for children, public health awareness, and community-level health education.
Leslie Emegbuonye
Executive Director
Holds strategic leadership and approves the foundation's reporting to the Board. Set the operating principle the foundation works to, a disciplined institution with systematic case selection, rather than ad-hoc charity.
Awisi Dede Djangay
Director: Communications, Resource Mobilization & Partnerships
Leads the foundation's fundraising strategy, donor relations, brand and campaign work, and public education, and is JKAiD's primary point of contact for prospective partners and sponsors.
Josephine Vigbedor
Programs Manager
Runs implementation and hospital coordination, owns the case eligibility protocol that decides which children we fund, and prepares the foundation's progress reporting. Also serves as our safeguarding focal point.
Our Board is not yet published here
The foundation is governed by a Board of Directors, which was properly convened on 20 January 2026 and which resolved the foundation’s registration with the Non-Profit Organisation Secretariat. Management reports to the Chairman of the Board, and quarterly board reporting is in place.
We are not listing individual directors, their photographs, or their external affiliations on this page until each of them has confirmed the wording we publish about them. We would rather this section be short and correct than full and approximate. It will be completed as those confirmations come in.
Our registration details, which identify the entity those directors govern, are in the footer of every page and on our press page.