The Pandemic Fund

Background

Somalia was awarded US$24.98 million from the Pandemic Fund to strengthen its prevention, preparedness, and response (PPR) capabilities and lessen the health, economic, and social impacts of public health threats on the country’s people. The grant mobilized an additional US$99.6 million in co-financing from international partners, as well as US$18.4 million in co-investment from the government’s own budget. The project’s range of partners includes civil society and academic organizations from the International Medical Corps to the Sheikh Technical Veterinary School and many more. 

Somalia’s community health workers are known for their resilience and poised to play critical roles in early detection and response. However, they are operating within a severely under-resourced health system—with fewer than 0.4 physicians per 10,000 people -- and the challenges facing the system are numerous. Decades of conflict, fragile governance structures, recurring droughts and floods, densely populated camps for internally displaced persons, low vaccination rates, and livestock trade all heighten public health risks. These factors also create an urgent need for strengthened surveillance and laboratory systems, as well as additional capacity within the public health workforce. 

Somalia’s project seeks to tackle the country’s complex public health landscape through multisectoral collaboration. The project is led by the Ministry of Health and Human Services in partnership with the Ministry of Livestock Forestry and Range. It also features support from three implementing entities: the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), UNICEF, and the World Bank.  
 

Project objectives

With the support of project partners and the Pandemic Fund, Somalia seeks to strengthen public health security and fuel economic opportunity for all the country's people.  
 

Implementation arrangements and key components

Somalia's project encompasses the Pandemic Fund’s three priorities: surveillance, laboratory systems, and workforce development. More detail on these components follows. 

1. Operationalizing a robust One Health surveillance system. Activities in this area focus on establishing a sentinel-based One Health surveillance system, improving community-based surveillance, and increasing the surveillance of priority zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), including at Somalia’s points of entry. Activities also include strengthening multisectoral event verification and investigation, data analysis, and information-sharing systems and implementing a One Health Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) plan. 

2. Building and sustaining a One Health laboratory system. This component of the project involves strengthening specimen referral and transport mechanisms, laboratory testing capacities, and biosafety, biosecurity, and quality systems across the health sectors. It also focuses on establishing cross-sectoral laboratory network links. 

3. Enhancing the cross-sectoral and community One Health workforce. This portion of the project focuses on developing the next generation of trained One Health practitioners, technical officers, surge personnel, and researchers, as well as building and maintaining community-based One Health worker networks. 

As implementing entities, the FAO will take the lead on animal health and agriculture, while UNICEF will provide technical and operational support for all RCCE activities. The World Bank will provide technical and operational support to the Ministry of Health.