Zainab Shinkafi-Bagudu improves cancer care access in Nigeria through diagnostics, advocacy, and women’s health-focused community initiatives.
After years working in the UK’s National Health Service, Dr Zainab Shinkafi-Bagudu returned to Nigeria and was jolted by what she found. Mothers lined up in overcrowded clinics, children battled preventable diseases, and women died quietly from cancers that could have been diagnosed early.
For her, it was disheartening and unacceptable. This conviction became the seed for a mission that has transformed how healthcare, especially cancer care, is delivered across Nigeria.
In 2009, Bagudu founded Medicaid Radio-Diagnostics & Clinics – Abuja’s first comprehensive diagnostic medical facility. At a time when advanced diagnostic services were scarce, Medicaid offered: MRIs, CT scans, mammography, endoscopy, and DNA testing – all under one roof.
She has led Medicaid to build its foundation on values she summarises as SCRIPT – Safety, Client-centeredness, Relationship, Integrity, Professionalism, and Timeliness. Beyond the technology and clinical excellence, the company has become a place where patients feel seen, heard, and treated with respect.
Still, Shinkafi-Bagudu quickly realised that diagnosis alone wasn’t enough. For many Nigerians, a cancer diagnosis felt like a death sentence, not because treatment didn’t exist, but because it was financially and geographically out of reach. So, she expanded her vision and founded the Medicaid Cancer Foundation (MCF) – a nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness, promoting prevention, and improving treatment access for those who could not afford it.
Over the years, MCF has raised more than $2 million to support cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment across Nigeria. Through massive awareness campaigns, annual Medicaid Cancer Walks, and expanded HPV vaccination programs for young girls, her foundation has reached thousands of families in underserved communities.
As the former First Lady of Kebbi State, Shinkafi-Bagudu used her influence to make an impact, integrating cancer screening with maternal health programs and strengthening Nigeria’s cancer control policies. She helped establish a state-level cancer control plan and expanded vaccination coverage.
Today, she serves as President-Elect of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), Chairperson of First Ladies Against Cancer Nigeria, and Senior Advisor on Women’s Health and Cancer Advocacy to Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of Health.
