SEMI
Essential Services for Maternal and Child HealthSEMI – 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:
- Improving access to life-saving essential maternal, new born, child & adolescent health services;
- Promoting rights-based family planning services for women and girls; and
- 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
3,834,598
patients have used curative services
during the SEMI project
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.
couples
were given one year of preotection from unwanted pregnancies.
108,000 planned deliveries were attended by a skilled birth attendant
These 108,000 planned deliveries represent 96% of total deliveries in the Kasai province. Of these deliveries, only 34 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
of newborns
Have received essential care since the start of SEMI.
children under one year
have been fully immunised against measles and other life threatening diseases.
1,087,947 children under five have been screened for malnutrition by community volunteers
Of these, 71% were considered recovered from moderate or severe malnutrition by the fifth home visit.
ZERO TOLERANCE FOR GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE.
95% of survivors of gender-based violence were seen at a supported health facility within 72 hours OF AN INCIDENT.
95% of malaria cases treated
Ninety-five percent of confirmed cases of simple malaria have been treated appropriately according to MOH guidelines.
4,691 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)
EmONC Trainings in the DRC
Read about how SEMI-trained health workers were able to help this mother bring her daughter safely into the world.
EmONC Trainings in the DRC: A SEMI Success Story – June 2023 (pdf)
read more about our past work to strengthen health systems through ASSP and ASSR.
QUICK CONTACTS
Recent Posts
Creating a national health information system in DRC
IMA World Health has been working with the Ministry of Health in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC, for more than 10 years to support the development of an effective and efficient National Health Information System in the country. This central reporting system...
ASSP’s WASH Program Certifies its First Round of Healthy Villages
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is one of the most water-rich countries in the world, containing 52% of the African continent’s freshwater resources. Despite this enormous availability of freshwater, only 32% of the rural population has access to potable water...
ASSP Project Uproots Malnutrition with Household Gardens
As they sit quietly in front of their family’s hut in Congo’s Kasai-Occidental Province, two-year-old twins Kanku and Mbuyi watch a pair of chickens ambling around their feet. Neither of the tiny boys gives chase or swats at the beaks that occasionally peck at their...
