South Sudan Health Action and Research Project (SHARP)

Project

KIT assisted the implementation of the three-year South Sudan Health Action and Research Project (SHARP). Working closely with South Sudan’s Ministry of Health, the project aimed to improve the accessibility of reproductive health (RH) care in post-conflict South Sudan.

One of the hospital interiors
One of the hospital interiors, with a hospital bed inside
People standing besides a sign to the hospital outpost
A room with several hospital beds
A women holding a hearing aid to her ear
A women holding a hearing aid to her ear
A gathering of people

Rebuilding and Envisioning 

“One maternal death is one death too many.”

South Sudan had the highest maternal mortality rate in the world at 2,054 women per 100,000 live births. The recently established state had suffered years of war, leaving an already rudimentary healthcare system severely depleted. In addition, the country faced multiple sexual and reproductive health challenges such as teenage pregnancy.

KIT and our project partners worked closely with South Sudan’s Ministry of Health (MOH) to strengthen maternal health service delivery in three provinces: Upper Nile, Northern and Western Bahr el Ghazal.

The project involved:

  • Supporting reproductive health service delivery
  • Capacity building of health workers and health governance
  • Health promotion, community participation and empowerment activities
  • Intervention-oriented research on what works in which contexts
  • Producing context-specific knowledge about effective models of service delivery for increased use of reproductive health services

SHARP aimed to increase the overall quality and accessibility of reproductive health services by empowering South Sudan’s MOH to manage and deliver quality services. Engagement and access to health service providers will allow all populations to exercise their right to have access to reproductive health services.