Public HealthWorking together to rebuild health care in post-conflict Somaliland
Section snippets
UK response from the Tropical Health and Education Trust and King's College Hospital
Faced with the size of these challenges, to see how a small group (initially, of UK health professionals) might respond could be difficult. We approached this task from the outset as a partnership (namely KTSP—King's College Hospital [panel 1], Tropical Health and Education Trust [THET, panel 2], a1nd Somaliland Partnership), talking and listening to each other in Hargeisa and London, and so we were able to identify areas for which input from the UK could make a difference. We have set
Early visits to Edna Adan Hospital
The Edna Adan Hospital (figure 4, panel 3) was still a building site in 2000 during the initial fact-finding visit. However on March 9, 2002, patients were admitted and 1 week later the first KTSP team visit took place. Within hours of their arrival, the first caesarean section was undertaken. Repeated follow-up visits have monitored progress, assisted staff training, and helped to start treatment protocols and improve care. As a result, the hospital has become a referral teaching hospital for
What are the benefits?
No programme of this sort, which is active across many disciplines, should proceed without careful monitoring and evaluation. For all the activities, we have put into place methods to monitor what is done to ensure work is effective and targeted to needs. Assessment techniques have included end-of-course examinations and questionnaires and assessments by student participants, structured interviews by visiting assessors from THET, audits of physical and structural changes in Somaliland, and
Legitimacy, migration, and sustainability
“Many rehabilitation interventions are implemented outside the state structures and therefore do not serve to strengthen these institutions in the longer term.”4 Although KTSP started informally outside state links, through individual invitations to help at Edna Adan Hospital and later at Hargeisa Group Hospital, the ensuing partnerships with government institutions have been strengthened. The work of KTSP is ultimately accountable to the Ministry of Health and Labour, and one of our team (EAI)
References (8)
Rebuilding Somaliland issues and possibilities
(2005)Migrant transfers as a development tool: the case of Somaliland
(2004)Remittances and their economic impact in post-war Somaliland
Disasters
(2000)- et al.
Service delivery in countries emerging from conflict: report for DFID
(2005)