USAID, WHO and the Federal Government of Somalia Vaccinate 47% of Eligible Somalis Against COVID-19

Mogadishu, Somalia - Nearly 47% of the eligible Somali population_[1] are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, thanks to the successful collaboration between World Health Organization (WHO), Federal Government of Somalia and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)  and the “COVID-19 Response in Somalia” project.  This project was implemented from July 2022 to July 2023,  by WHO, USAID, the Somali Federal and State-level Ministries of Health and aimed to strengthen healthcare systems and train community healthcare workers as part of an integrated vaccination campaign for COVID-19 and other vaccinations covered under the expanded programme on routine immunization_[2] (EPI). By the end of June 2023, Somalia had administered a total of 10,527,700 doses of COVID-19 vaccines (64.4 doses of primary series COVID-19 vaccines per 100 people)—one of the highest vaccination rates in Africa_.[3]

“Considering the fragility of our health system, achieving such a high rate of the primary COVID-19 vaccination series in Somalia is no small accomplishment,” said Dr. Mukhtar Abdi Shube, the Head of Vaccines and Immunization Programme at the Federal Ministry of Health. “It puts Somalia at par with the more stable and advanced countries in Africa and elsewhere. The project helped address existing gaps in our immunization services and infrastructure, such as coordination, surveillance, shortage of vaccinators, and an operational response to COVID-19,” he added.

The COVID-19 response project worked with the Somali Federal and State Ministries of Health to ensure that the most vulnerable and hard to reach populations would be reached with the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Under this project, nearly 2,000 community health workers (CWH) were trained and deployed in 71 high-priority districts (including 31 drought affected districts). These CHWs visited house-to-house in the marginalized settings, conducted case detection for COVID-19, contact tracing, and identify people, especially women household members who needed to be vaccinated and refer them to the nearby outreach teams set up at the community for COVID-19 vaccination. In addition, more than 85% of the vaccinators for the community outreach teams deployed by the COVID-19 response project were women. This gender focus helped increase the vaccination rate for women from 19% (at the start of 2022) to 44% (in July 2023). The COVID-19 response project also helped fully vaccinate 57% of the nearly 3 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Somalia and 21% of its nomadic populations.

“This collaboration between WHO and USAID not only contained transmission of COVID-19 in Somalia, but improved coverage for other critical vaccinations,” said Ted Lawrence, USAID Somalia’s Acting Mission Director. “By focusing on community-based initiatives, this project helped build a more resilient health system which is better prepared for future health emergencies.” The stronger immunization system also enabled Somalia to roll-out supplementary immunization targeting children who had never received critical childhood vaccinations. This contributed to over 84,600 zero-dose children being identified and receiving their first dose of vaccines (BCG, three doses of pentavalent, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, and polio vaccines).

For additional information, please contact:

Kyle DeFreitas, WHO External Relations Officer, defreitask@who.int
Fouzia Bano, WHO Communications Officer, banof@who.int
Sila Kimanzi, USAID Somalia Maternal, Child Health, Nutrition and Family Planning Specialist, skimanzi@usaid.gov
Danielle Botti, USAID Somalia Development Outreach and Communications Specialist, dbotti@usaid.gov
Keisha Herbert, USAID Somalia Program Office Deputy Director, kherbert@usaid.gov