Project profile — Health response to COVID19 in Somalia

The project supports Somalia's "COVID-19 Country Support and Preparedness Plan" to strengthen national laboratories, and case investigation, contact tracing and risk communication centers. It also focuses on community mobilization, infection prevention and control, case management, maintenance of other essential health services and provision of psychosocial support.

Expected outcomes of this project include: (1) strengthened national coordination; (2) improved risk communication; (3) involvement and mobilization of communities and high-risk populations to prevent infection and exposure risks; (4) improved detection and management of COVID-19 cases; (5) improved surveillance and optimization of patient care; and (6) continued provision of essential non-COVID-19 healthcare.

Results achieved as of March 2021 include: (1) provided the World Health Organization (WHO) Somalia Country Office essential support to the response to COVID-19 in Somalia, in partnership with federal and member state health authorities. It focused on reducing exposure and transmission, improving testing and treatment capacity, supporting the coordination of interventions and conducting research to guide policy; (2) the WHO Somalia country office supported the deployment of over 3,300 community health workers to disseminate risk mitigation messages and help detect potential cases of COVID-19; (3) the WHO Somalia country office helped establish or improve testing capacity in 24 laboratories and treatment facilities; and (4) the WHO Somalia country office integrated gender equality into its activities by disaggregating data and ensuring that half of its community health workers are women, thus improving access to households and communities.