Essential Services for Maternal and Child Health (SEMI) Project Overview

Project Overviews

Essential Services for Maternal and Child Health (SEMI) Project Overview

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continues to face acute and complex humanitarian crises characterized by internal displacement and widespread insecurity. According to the World Bank, the maternal mortality rate is 547 deaths per 100,000 live births (2020) and mortality rate for children under five remains one of the highest in the world at 62 deaths per 1,000 live births (2021). These causes of death, often preventable, are aggravated by high rates of malnutrition, inability to access quality health care, lack of access to clean water and gender-based violence (GBV).

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)-funded program for Essential Maternal and Child Health Services in the DRC, known by its French acronym "SEMI" (Services Essentiels de Santé Maternelle et Infantile), is a three-year health systems strengthening program implemented in all health zones in the Kasai province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The program uses targeted national support for evidence-based health policy reform. It is designed to improve the health of 1.6 million women, girls, and children and to put an end to preventable deaths in Kasai, which has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country (169 deaths per 100,000 live births). The program supports the implementation of the DRC government's National Health Development Plan (PNDS) and its priorities, including the promotion of universal healthcare coverage.

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