The Health Sector Transformation Project (HSTP) implemented by ForAfrika in collaboration with government representatives, local leadership and communities, is bringing essential health services closer to people in hard-to-reach communities. More than a health intervention, it is strengthening trust, improving coordination, and supporting a more responsive local health system that serves people.

Through the project, ForAfrika has delivered medicines and other medical supplies from the County Health Department store to last-mile facilities. To strengthen service delivery, ForAfrika also conducted weekly outreach services and offered support supervision to Primary Health Care Units and Boma Health Workers. In Jebel Boma, this support means that a mother in labour will get timely help, a baby born far from a health facility can receive its first vaccination and the vulnerable communities can finally access closer health care.

For 17-year-old Bori Ibon from High Salam, the project support meant survival. When Bori went into labour, complications put both her life and that of her baby at risk. She was unable to deliver normally because of the baby’s size, and her condition worsened as she developed high blood pressure, followed by convulsions and unconsciousness. Thankfully, she was taken to Boma Hospital, where qualified medical personnel carried out a successful caesarean section.

“I failed to deliver my baby because he was too big,” Bori recalled. “I developed high blood pressure at the same time, and it led to convulsions and unconsciousness. Thanks to the qualified medical personnel supported through ForAfrika, without their help, my baby and I would not have made it.”

Nabong Martha, a 20-year-old mother from Nayape village in Koradep, benefitted in another critical way. After giving birth at home during the night, she could easily have missed the narrow window for her newborn’s first vaccination. But through outreach services facilitated by ForAfrika, her newborn was vaccinated without the family having to travel a long and difficult journey to a facility.

“My newborn baby managed to receive vaccination on time from home because of the outreach services,” she testified.

Stories like these show that stronger, community-rooted health systems can save lives today and build resilience for tomorrow. ForAfrika strongly believes that every mother deserves safe delivery care, every child deserves a healthy start to life, and every family deserves the chance to receive timely health care.