Project Name：Maternal and Infant Health Care Improvement Project in Somaliland

Project status：Projects in Operation

Cooperating Country：Africa, Somaliland

Project Description：

Somaliland’s National Development Plan II (2017-2021) lists reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child healthcare as health sector priorities. However, poor accessibility of maternal and child health care services prevents the country from providing comprehensive healthcare from pregnancy through delivery to postnatal care, limiting abilities to detect high-risk pregnancy and further reduce preterm labor and neonatal mortality.
The TaiwanICDF reached a consensus with Somaliland's Ministry of Health about the implementation of a maternal and infant health care project in the Maroodi Jeex region, where the capital city is located. This project aims to improve the accessibility of maternal and infant health care and includes:
A.Upgrading the functions of selected health care facilities.
B.Enriching health care personnel with knowledge in high-risk group care.
C.Improving the quality of women and children care at the community level.

Project introduction video:

Implementation Start Date：2021-01-01

Implementation End Date：2023-12-31

Source of Funding：Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC（Taiwan）/Ministry of Health Development, Somaliland/Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital

Project Objectives：

1.Upgrade the functions of health care facilities
(1)Provide essential medical equipment based on the EPHS recommendations on maternal and child health care and the comprehensive EmONC standards to upgrade the maternal and infant health care functions in 2 hospitals in the Maroodi Jeex region.
(2)Provide essential medical equipment based on the EPHS recommendations on maternal and child health care and the basic EmONC standards to upgrade the maternal and infant health care functions in 8 selected health centers.
(3)Strengthen or integrate SOPs for maternal and infant high-risk case management in the health facilities; submit a minimum of three SOPs.
(4)Provide two ambulances to strengthen the referral capacity of health facilities to the two hospitals in the Maroodi Jeex region.

2.Enrich health care personnel with knowledge in high-risk group care
(1)Submit a recommendation report on maternal and infant health care guidelines.
(2)Train a minimum of eight seed instructors in high-risk group management of obstetrics and pediatrics Conduct a minimum of eight local training courses on high-risk group management of obstetrics and pediatrics, and train a minimum of 200 physicians, nurses, and midwives.
(3)Have Taiwanese consultants conduct onsite assessments to monitor the above activities, with six consultations for a minimum of 12 weeks.

3.Improve the quality of women and infant care at the community level
(1)Strengthen the capacity of community health workers on maternal and infant health care and health promotion.
(2)Improving the accessibility of antenatal and postnatal care at the community level.
(3)Promote knowledge of maternal and infant health care to the public.

Implementation Arrangement：Members of the Project will provide technical assistance for capacity building.

Current Progress：

To the end of March 2023, the following activities have been carried out:
1. Donated the essential medical equipment for 2 hospitals in the Maroodi Jeex region and 8 selected health centers.
2. Donated 2ambulances.
3. Completed 16 seed instructors training in Taiwan. 
4. Completed 13 local training for 247 healthcare personnel.
5. Completed the recording of 8 episodes of maternal and infant health education promotion TV program and 11 radio programs.
6. Donated 233 delivery packages to healthcare facilities.
7. Completed 14 community outreaches, applied 54 prenatal examinations alongside postnatal referral mechanism promotion.
8. Completed 21 community maternal and neonatal healthcare promoting activities with 297 participants.
9. Completed drafts of maternal health booklets, as well as SOPs of hand washing, use of incubator and case management.
10. Completed a recommendation report on maternal and infant health care guidelines.
11. Completed 6 consultants field visit.

Project Contact：Cecilia Lin

Phone：(02)2873-2323#6058

E-mail：c.hui.lin@icdf.org.tw

Mission：Taiwan Technical Mission in the Republic of Somaliland