SEMI

Essential Services for Maternal and Child Health

SEMI – Essential Services for Maternal and Child Health in DRC

Strengthening the health system and improving the quality, effectiveness, and affordability of health care services in Kasai province.

Continuing the legacy of primary health care for all

SEMI – Essential Care for Maternal and Child Health in DRC, is a new health systems strengthening project in the Kasai province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since 2013, IMA has been working to build the health system and increase access to primary health care in Kasai through its UKaid funded ASSP and ASSR projects. During the nine year reign of these projects, IMA successfully increased service utilization, providing curative consultations for more than 42 million people across five provinces. In these project areas, close to 100 percent of pregnant mothers are now give birth at health centers, as opposed to only 62 percent at the beginning of ASSP.

Quality of Care – A SEMI Priority

Now that IMA and its partners have established access to health care, the focus is shifting to improving the quality of care with SEMI, which in french stands for Services Essentiels de Santé Maternelle et Infantile en RDC , Essential Services for Maternal and Child Health in DRC.

SEMI project interventions focus on: 

  1. Improving access to life-saving essential maternal, new born, child & adolescent health services;
  2. Promoting rights-based family planning services for women and girls; and
  3. Strengthening the health system in the following areas: 
  • Community governance mechanisms  – empowering front-line health care workers and surrounding communities to engage in health system quality improvement. 
  • Human resources for health – providing opportunity for data-driven solutions for managing the health workforce.
  • Drug supply chain management ensuring the right medicines are available, in time and without waste, at the front line.
  • Health information system quality and completeness – supporting data use in decision-making at all levels of the health system.
  • Public finance management for health system support in DRC provinces.

Implementation Period

September 2022 to Present

Donor

UKaid

Improving Quality of Care

  • ZERO tolerance of gender-based violence
  • Community empowerment of health workers and beneficiaries alike to take owenrship of their health system

936,177

patients used curative services
during the last quarter of 2022

SEMI – Essential Care for Maternal and Child Health in DRC

Improving care for mothers

pregnant women

received four doses of intermittent preventative treatment, or IPT, during antenatal visits during the last quarter of 2022, helping to prevent the transmission of malaria during pregnancy.

pregnant women

attended four antenatal visits.

new acceptors

of modern methods of family planning during the last quarter of 2022.

couples

were given one year of preotection from unwanted pregnancies.

52,882 planned deliveries were attended by a skilled birth attendant

These 52,882 planned deliveries represent 96% of total deliveries in the Kasai province. Of these deliveries, only 16 maternal deaths were reported during the last quarter of 2022. All of these deaths were examined.

SEMI – Essential Care for Maternal and Child Health

protecting the most vulnerable

newborns

Received essential care during the last quarter of 2022.

children under one year

have been fully immunised against measles and other life threatening diseases.

235,205 children under five have been screened for malnutrition by community volunteers

During the last quarter of 2022, 10,536 children were seen at the fifth nutrition monitoring visit. Of these, 7,138 (68%) were considered recovered from moderate or severe malnutrition.

ZERO TOLERANCE FOR GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE.

526 survivors of gender-based violence were seen at a supported health facility with 72 hours OF AN INCIDENT.

This represents 90 percent of cases of GBV in Kasai province. Of these, 443 survivors received PEP kits,  protecting them from transmission of HIV and unwanted pregnancy. 

1,141 CODESA Meetings Held

CODESAs (community health committees), CAC (village health committees), and RECOs (community liaisons), are the voice of the community. These groups are on the ground, going house to house and to every health center ensuring that communities are receiving the care and the representation that they deserve.

Map of project health zones

The SEMI project operates in 18 health zones, covering nearly the entire province of Kasai in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

SEMI Partners

SEMI is funded by UKaid and managed under the direction of IMA in partnership with the government of DRC and with local implementing partner Sanru. 

Publications

Health Systems Strengthening

SEMI Project Overview – September 2023 (pdf)

ASSP General Program Flyer - September 2019 (English) (français)

read more about our past work to strengthen health systems through ASSP and ASSR.

QUICK CONTACTS

    1730 M Street, NW, Suite 1100        Washington, DC 20036

    +1-202-888-6200

    info@imaworldhealth.org

    www.imaworldhealth.org

Recent Posts

Quarter 1 Results

Number of pregnant women who received three doses of IPT while attending antenatal care: 58,495Number and percentage of 1-yr-old children vaccinated against measles: 78,123Number of Couple Years of Protection (CYPs) achieved through family planning service provision:...

Saved by my Son: A Tushinde Ujeuri Success Story

"The support from the Tushinde program has restored my will to live." Tushinde Ujeuri Project brings hope to one survivor of sexual and gender-based violence in DRC It was mid afternoon, and my 10 year-old son and I were walking home from working in the fields. When...

Combatting Malnutrition in DRC: A Nutrition Success Story

Community relays in Ndesha, Kasai Central are successfully combatting malnutrition in the DRC thanks to ASSP's nutrition training. Combatting Malnutrition One Maman at a TimeMado Betu was a young child of two years and four months but was frail and unable to walk when...