In Fadhixun village in Awdal Region, climate-induced drought has made pregnancy and childbirth more dangerous. Water is scarce, transport costs are high, and families are often forced to delay care. To prevent avoidable maternal and newborn deaths before the crisis peaked, UNFPA, through EF-supported anticipatory action, supported the rapid deployment of surge roster midwives, bringing skilled, lifesaving care closer to women and adolescent girls in remote communities.
Fardowsa, a graduate of a UNFPA-supported midwifery school in Somaliland, was deployed to the Fadhixun health center, where she provides antenatal and postnatal care, skilled birth attendance, essential newborn care, respectful and client-centered counselling, voluntary family planning, and GBV risk-mitigation, while ensuring timely referral for complications. One evening, a young woman arrived after prolonged labour at home, exhausted and at high risk, with the nearest higher-level facility far away. Fardowsa immediately assessed and stabilized her, initiated emergency referral coordination, and ensured continuity of care through follow-up. Days later, the mother returned recovering, cradling her healthy newborn, proof that having a skilled midwife on the ground in time can be the difference between tragedy and survival.
The Awdal local health authority has formally appreciated UNFPA’s surge roster deployment across 10 villages and requested scale-up to other climate-affected and hard-to-reach communities across the country. This is anticipatory action in practice: protecting women’s and girls’ health and rights, strengthening last-mile primary health systems, and saving lives by ensuring skilled midwifery care is in place before shocks become catastrophes.
When skilled midwifery care reaches communities early, crises do not have to become catastrophes for mothers, newborns and young girls.