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.