A newly constructed health facility office by humanitarian organisation, GOAL, is expected to benefit at least 60,000 people in over 90 communities in Sudan.
The new office facility was constructed at Umbaro, Sudan, with funding from the European Union (EU) under GOAL’s HealthPro project.
GOAL’s move is in line with goal three of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aims to ‘ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages’.
Under the HealthPro project, GOAL’s interventions target health system governance, human resources, health service delivery, supply of essential medicines, health care financing and health information systems.
GOAL said it also provided financial and technical support, including essential training and a four-wheel drive vehicle for the deployment of six technical staff.
According to the humanitarian organisation, people in Umbaro had limited access to basic health care services before its intervention, as there was no mechanism to coordinate the planning and delivery of primary health care and no links to the state Ministry of Health.
Development Diaries gathered that management of health service delivery in the Umbaro locality was informal and unorganised, with pregnant women, new mothers and newborns particularly at risk of health mishaps.
According to the UNFPA 2020 State of World Population report, Sudan has a high maternal mortality rate of 295 deaths per 100,000 live births.
‘Thanks to the project, Umbaro now has a dedicated health management team to care for the local community. In the last six months, the team has conducted three supportive supervision visits to the health facilities across the locality and developed a five-year health sector strategic plan’, GOAL said on its website.
‘The project is set to directly benefit an estimated 60,000 people in over 90 communities. The strengthening of governance at the LHD level is also expected to have a far-reaching impact across the entire region’.
‘GOAL’s support has led to substantial improvements in the availability and quality of health services our community are receiving’, the humanitarian organisation quoted the King of Umbaro, Jafer Ali Mohamedain, as saying.
‘We thank GOAL a lot for this support. We also hope it will expand the work and operate in the locality for a long time’.
GOAL’s Health System Coordinator in Sudan, Ali Sayed, said he felt positive about the results of the project and is hopeful for more impact in the future.
‘I believe key health indicators such as maternal and new-born mortality rates in the community will improve soon due to the creation of the district health office. It is great that we made this a reality despite the organisational challenges faced from working in this remote area’.
GOAL noted that the HealthPro project aims to help achieve universal health coverage among internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees and host communities within North Darfur, Kutum and Serf Umra.
Source: GOAL Sudan
Photo source: GOAL Sudan
