King’s Global Health Partnerships in Somaliland is working to improve the quality of maternal and neonatal health care delivered in four community health centres and at Hargeisa Group Hospital - Somaliland’s largest public referral hospital.

The Challenge

The Somaliland Government has made impressive progress in improving health outcomes for expectant mothers and their babies. Maternal mortality has fallen to 396 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births from 732. Yet there remains a long way to go, to reach the Global Sustainable Development Goal target to reduce maternal deaths to 140 per 100,000, by 2030.

One of the main causes of high maternal mortality is poor quality care. Factors are diverse but include a lack of focus on respectful and patient-centred care, poor patient record-keeping and limited continuity in the care women receive. As a result, expectant mothers often choose to give birth with the support of untrained traditional healers, instead of the public health system. Large numbers of women die each year from preventable and treatable complications, such as obstructed labour, postpartum haemorrhage, pre-eclampsia/eclampsia and sepsis.

How KGHP is supporting our partners in Somaliland

In 2019, KGHP was invited by the Ministry of Health Development to support long-term improvements in the delivery of quality care at Hargeisa Group Hospital. Recognising the challenges that exist at the primary care level, this project also works with four health facilities that serve internally displaced people around Hargeisa.

We are supporting assessments of basic emergency obstetric and newborn care that will identify priority areas for improvement. Drawing on learning from the NHS, we are supporting healthcare workers to test and scale up improvements to maternal health services. This is complimented by training on the importance of respectful care and the impact this can have on women’s willingness to use public health services. We are also supporting the Ministry of Health Development to conduct a review of standards treatment guidelines for maternal and neonatal care, and the implementation of these at Hargeisa Group Hospital.

 This project is implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Health Development. It is funded by the Alborada Trust and The Evan Cornish Foundation.