Rebuilding research capacity in fragile states: the case of a Somali-Swedish global health initiative.

This paper presents an initiative to revive the previous Somali-Swedish Research Cooperation, which started in 1981 and was cut short by the civil war in Somalia. A programme focusing on research capacity building in the health sector is currently underway through the work of an alliance of three partner groups: six new Somali universities, five Swedish universities, and Somali diaspora professionals. Somali ownership is key to the sustainability of the programme, as is close collaboration with Somali health ministries.

Emergency Contraception in Post-Conflict Somalia: An Assessment of Awareness and Perceptions of Need.

In conflict-affected settings such as Somalia, emergency contraception (EC) has the potential to serve as an important means of pregnancy prevention. Yet Somalia remains one of the few countries without a registered progestin-only EC pill. In 2014, we conducted a qualitative, multi-methods study in Mogadishu to explore awareness of and perceptions of need for EC.

Exploring Somali women's reproductive health knowledge and experiences: results from focus group discussions in Mogadishu.

With a total fertility ratio of 6.7 children per woman, a maternal mortality ratio over 1,000 deaths per 100,000 live births, high rates of sexual and gender-based violence, and the lowest contraceptive prevalence rate in the world, women's reproductive health indices in Somalia prove alarming. The voices of women living in Somalia have long been neglected and we undertook this qualitative study to explore women's reproductive health knowledge and experiences.