Chapter Fourteen - Health Policy and Challenges in Somalia

Summary

Introduction

This chapter examines the health policies and physical infrastructure of healthcare delivery in Somalia. It argues that the humanitarian crisis because of the civil war in Somalia for many decades has negatively affected the formulation of policies and effective implementation of healthcare delivery in the country. In addition, the lack of a community healthcare approach has not been the center of healthcare delivery in Somalia. Thus, the nature of the healthcare needs of the citizens of the country has negatively affected the humanitarian crisis and economic development in the country. The research methods applied for this chapter involved using both questionnaire administration and semi-structured interviews to gain insights into the effectiveness of health policies as well as citizen perception of the healthcare delivery system in Somalia. Content analysis of World Health Organization, African Development Bank, and United Nations reports as well as United States Central for Disease Center (CDC) reports reviewed. Several academic journal articles were also reviewed. The finding of this research reveals that apart from the civil wars in Somalia, the healthcare delivery system in the country is severely affected by inadequate medical products, funding technology in the healthcare delivery system, inadequate health workforce, leadership, and lack of health delivery network in rural communities. In addition, poor government funding, lack of accountability or coordination in the way healthcare is delivered to citizens, and the challenges of insecurity, instability, and frequent confusion between local and international paradigms of health approaches have negatively affected the health delivery system in the country. Recommendations on how the government and private sectors could adopt a good steward leadership approach to effectively coordinate Somalia's health system's vision, direction, and policies to ensure vibrant basic healthcare services to all citizens soon are provided.

Brief History of Somalia

Democratic Republic of Somalia is a country in the northeastern Horne of the African continent. The nation has a boundary with Ethiopia in the west, and Kenya in the south. It also has a boundary with Djibouti and the Red Sea in the northwest. The Indian Ocean covers the south, east, and northeastern parts of Somalia.