Geographical Locations - Somalia

• (Statistical) Number of Inhabitants per Doctor: 19,071

Organisations and Networks

UN and Multinational

• WHO
  - WHO Country Profile - Somalia
  - WHO - Tobacco control: Country Profile: Somalia
  - WHO - Environmental Burden of Disease: Country Profile – Somalia

Government

Non-Government

• Care in Somalia
  Care International UK undertakes development projects in Somalia in the fields of reforestation, agriculture and refugee self-reliance.
• Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Somalia
  Médecins Sans Frontières is the world’s leading independent humanitarian organisation for medical aid. Annually, some 3,000 volunteer doctors, nurses and support staff work in trouble spots around the world helping those living on the edge of human tolerance. This site provides information on MSF's involvement in Somalia.

Academic Institutions

National Policy and Related Documents

Reports, Guidelines, and Projects

• Health Care Services in Transitional Somalia: Challenges and Recommendations
  Universal access to health care is an ideal goal for all nations. Nations often base their health care development plans on this principle. In Somalia, provision of health care services was also driven by this principle, and delivery of services was publicly funded like other social services, such as education. However, that goal was never achieved and the health status indicators for Somalia, even before the collapse of the central government, showed grim statistics. [author introduction] [Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies, Volume 7, Issue 1 (2007)]
• Health service providers in Somalia: their readiness to provide malaria case-management
  Background: Studies have highlighted the inadequacies of the public health sector in sub-Saharan African countries in providing appropriate malaria case management. The readiness of the public health sector to provide malaria case-management in Somalia, a country where there has been no functioning central government for almost two decades, was investigated. Methods: Three districts were purposively sampled in each of the two self-declared states of Puntland and Somaliland and the south-central region of Somalia, in April-November 2007. A survey and mapping of all public and private health service providers was undertaken. Information was recorded on services provided, types of anti-malarial drugs used and stock, numbers and qualifications of staff, sources of financial support and presence of malaria diagnostic services, new treatment guidelines and job aides for malaria case-management. All settlements were mapped and a semi-quantitative approach was used to estimate their population size. Distances from settlements to public health services were computed. Results: There were 45 public health facilities, 227 public health professionals, and 194 private pharmacies for approximately 0.6 million people in the three districts. The median distance to public health facilities was 6 km. 62.3% of public health facilities prescribed the nationally recommended anti-malarial drug and 37.7% prescribed chloroquine as first-line therapy. 66.7% of public facilities did not have in stock the recommended first-line malaria therapy. Diagnosis of malaria using rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) or microscopy was performed routinely in over 90% of the recommended public facilities but only 50% of these had RDT in stock at the time of survey. National treatment guidelines were available in 31.3% of public health facilities recommended by the national strategy. Only 8.8% of the private pharmacies prescribed artesunate plus sulphadoxine/pyrimethamine, while 53.1% prescribed chloroquine as first-line therapy. 31.4% of private pharmacies also provided malaria diagnosis using RDT or microscopy. Conclusion: Geographic access to public health sector is relatively low and there were major shortages of appropriate guidelines, anti-malarials and diagnostic tests required for appropriate malaria case management. Efforts to strengthen the readiness of the health sector in Somalia to provide malaria case management should improve availability of drugs and diagnostic kits; provide appropriate information and training; and engage and regulate the private sector to scale up malaria control. [author abstract] [Malaria Journal 2009, 8:100 doi:10.1186/1475-2875-8-100]
• Rollback Malaria - Somalia
  "Malaria transmission ranges from unstable and epidemic in Puntland and Somaliland to moderate in central Somalia to high in the south. The major malaria vectors are A. arabiensis and A. funestus; while both vectors are found in the south, only A. arabiensis is found in the north. The conflict in Somalia has destroyed the entire public health infrastructure, except in Somaliland in the North-West zone of the country and in Puntland, North-East zone. Priorities for malaria control vary across the country, according to variations in endemicity. In the north, the priorities are to reduce transmission through vector control and to ensure epidemic preparedness; in the more endemic south and central areas, the priorities are to reduce malaria morbidity and to prevent mortality in high-risk groups through early diagnosis and prompt treatment and personal protection through ITNs." [WHO]
• Securing Health: Lessons from Nation Building Missions
  This monograph presents the results of research conducted by the RAND Corporation on the health component of nation-building operations. The purpose of the research was to analyze the activities that countries, international institutions, and non-governmental organizations undertake in rebuilding public health and health care delivery systems after major conflict. In addition, this monograph outlines key principles for the success of such reconstruction efforts and identifies lessons for future nation-building operations.
• Working together to rebuild health care in post-conflict Somaliland
  In 1991, the Somali National Movement fighters recaptured the Somaliland capital city of Hargeisa after a 3-year civil war. The government troops of the dictator General Mohamed Siad Barre fled south, plunging most of Somalia into a state of anarchy that persists to this day. In the north of the region, the redeclaration of independence of Somaliland took place on May 18, 1991. Despite some sporadic civil unrest between 1994 and 1996, and a few tragic killings of members of the international community, the country has enjoyed peace and stability and has an impressive development record. However, Somaliland continues to await international recognition. The civil war resulted in the destruction of most of Somaliland’s health-care facilities, compounded by mass migration or death of trained health personnel. Access to good, affordable health care for the average Somali remains greatly compromised. A former medical director of the general hospital of Hargeisa, Abdirahman Ahmed Mohamed, suggested the idea of a link between King’s College Hospital in London, UK, and Somaliland. With support from two British colleagues, a fact-finding trip sponsored by the Tropical Health and Education Trust (THET) took place in July, 2000, followed by a needs assessment by a THET programme coordinator. Here, we describe the challenges of health-care reconstruction in Somaliland and the evolving role of the partnership between King’s College Hospital, THET, and Somaliland within the context of the growing movement to link UK NHS trusts and teaching institutions with counterparts in developing countries. [author abstract] [The Lancet, 368, 9541, pp.1119 - 1125, 23 September 2006]

Educational Resources

• CDC - Travel Information : East Africa
• IRIN News Somalia
  This site, from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs provides the latest news from Somalia.
• Library of Congress, Country Study: Somalia