{"id":7396,"date":"2021-02-01T21:20:53","date_gmt":"2021-02-01T21:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/?p=7396"},"modified":"2021-02-03T09:51:32","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T09:51:32","slug":"somalia-works-together-to-improve-health-outcomes-for-all-somalis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/2021\/02\/01\/somalia-works-together-to-improve-health-outcomes-for-all-somalis\/","title":{"rendered":"Somalia works together to improve health outcomes for all Somalis"},"content":{"rendered":"

MOGADISHU —<\/strong> Nearly 30 years of conflict and instability have heavily marked Somalia\u2019s recent history. Some gains are being made, but the country still faces many challenges ahead.<\/p>\n

Somalia\u2019s health indicators, especially for women and children rank among the lowest in the world.<\/p>\n

Recently published statistics show that maternal mortality and deaths of children under five remain high, while female genital mutilation is still widespread. Prevalence of early marriage also contributes to high fertility rates. These issues are further exacerbated by cramped conditions in the country\u2019s over 2 000 sites for internally displaced persons.<\/p>\n

An innovative partnership between WHO, Sweden and Somalia\u2019s Ministry for Health was launched to address these and other persistent health problems. The partnership, which is borne out of a policy dialogue and a high-level mission by Sweden to Somalia in 2020, aims to create an independent Somali Public Health authority and to modernize the country\u2019s health information management system.<\/p>\n

This collaboration between Sweden and WHO in Somalia was inspired by WHO\u2019s 2019-2013 General Programme of Work to deliver impact at the country level.<\/p>\n

Improving health outcomes in Somalia<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sweden\u2019s funding initiatives and active collaboration in the country, supported by WHO, are focused on promoting equitable access to health care and sexual and reproductive health and rights.<\/p>\n

Sweden is working closely with WHO to support the establishment of an independent Somali public health authority: The National Institute of Health. This includes technical support from\u00a0 The Public Health Agency of Sweden.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe strive to contribute to making the National Health Institute a centre of excellence. It is one of the priorities of WHO,\u201d said Kyle DeFreitas, External Relations and Resource Mobilization Officer at WHO Somalia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will help build the capacities of the institute, which will enable Somalia to deal more effectively with public health issues into the future, including potential disease outbreaks and pandemics,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Dr Abdifatah Diriye Ahmed, Executive Director of the National Health Institute, said the newly formed institution will be one of the most important and crucial steps towards establishing a strong health system in addition to the areas of equitable access and reproductive health and rights in Somalia. During the past three decades, the health system has been fragmented and has faced many challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the goal of becoming the leading evidence-based centre of knowledge excellence and dissemination in research, the National Institute of Health will be the epicentre of efforts to shape Somalia\u2019s new health care system and the future of healthy Somalis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sweden\u2019s second project with WHO and the Somali Ministry of Health is a collaboration with SPIDER Centre, an institute based at Stockholm University. The initiative aims to help authorities digitalize the country\u2019s health information management system starting in three pilot locations in Puntland, Galmudug, and Banaadir.<\/p>\n

WHO and the National Institute of Health will also work with the SPIDER Centre to help build a state-of-the-art integrated disease surveillance and response system.<\/p>\n

A unique partnership<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSweden as a donor doesn\u2019t just give financial support to WHO to carry out a project or a programme. We work together. We network together. We strive towards common goals in the health sector in Somalia. We make resources available and we use them to push things together in the right direction,\u201d says Daniel Magnusson, Senior Programme Manager at the Somalia Section at the Swedish Embassy in Nairobi.<\/p>\n

A critical feature of the partnership focuses on the exchange of expertise which will happen through the secondment of personnel. An experienced senior professional will join WHO Somalia to, among other duties, focus on supporting the National Institute of Health and collaboration with SPIDER Centre. Another expert consultant will join at a later stage.<\/p>\n

After the first stage, the team will assess their progress and make any necessary adjustments.<\/p>\n

A cohesive UN system<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSweden believes in a UN system that works together. Our view of health sector development in countries like Somalia is that there needs to be strong collaboration and coordination between the different multilateral agencies like WHO and bilateral actors like Sweden, combined with a strong engagement with the government at different levels,\u201d explained Daniel.<\/p>\n

Building a stronger primary health care system is crucial in creating a brighter future for the people of Somalia and is therefore part of WHO\u2019s main focus.<\/p>\n

\u201cA strong primary health care system can ensure equitable access to health care and\u00a0rights to health including reproductive and sexual health for women and other marginalized groups. \u201cIt is an investment for managing health security threats at the local level before they become a national threat or an epidemic,\u201d says Dr Mamunur Malik, WHO Representative in Somalia.<\/p>\n

Despite the long road ahead, the collaboration between Sweden, WHO and the Somali Ministry of Health is one significant step towards ensuring that no one in Somalia will be left behind in the journey towards health for all.<\/p>\n

Source: WHO\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Origin: View original<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MOGADISHU — Nearly 30 years of conflict and instability have heavily marked Somalia\u2019s recent history. Some gains are being made, but the country still faces many challenges ahead. Somalia\u2019s health indicators, especially for women and children rank among the lowest in the world. Recently published statistics show that maternal mortality and deaths of children under …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-health-cluster","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7396"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7412,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7396\/revisions\/7412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}