Protracted Crisis Situations:
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Global Reproductive Health in
Crises Activities
Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is a mainstay of International
Medical Corps’ programming in crises. IMC seeks to seamlessly integrate
SRH into its primary health care service delivery, beginning with the
Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) and transitioning to
comprehensive SRH services at the community and health facility levels.
As part of our work to increase resilience and promote sustainability,
IMC is committed to training skilled birth attendants (SBA) and other
health care providers (HCP) to provide quality maternal newborn care
services, including family planning.
Refugees:
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Pakistan: A total of 115,532 Afghan refugees in camps in KPK Province
since 1999 have received services beginning with basic MISP activities
and progressing to comprehensive SRH services fully integrated into
the health facilities, with referral for delivery and distribution of clean
delivery kits (CDK). Birth planning is an essential component of
antenatal care. In response to a high prevalence of gender-based
violence (GBV), International Medical Corps and partners provide
psychosocial and clinical management of rape (CMR) services, and all
basic health units are now staffed 24/7 by female HCPs trained in CMR.
Central African Republic, IMC provides SRH services around the
country, including 2,000 Sudanese refugees in Pladama Ouka Camp.
Traditional birth attendants (TBAs) and community health workers
(CHWs) are involved in family planning (FP) provision and referrals and
lead an active referral system for delivery at the health facilities.
Somalia: International Medical Corps offers a full
package of health services, including an expanded
MISP, through two basic health units and a hospital
outpatient unit, with basic emergency obstetric and
newborn care (EmONC) at International Medical
Corps’ upgraded health facilities to begin in June
2013 to improve access to SBAs. These expanded
facilities will be among the first in Mogadishu to
offer FP commodities and counselling.
 Sudan: In addition to integrating SRH into health
care programs across Darfur, IMC manages a largescale non-cash incentive program that has trained
more than 150 TBAs on the importance of
antenatal care and institutional/clean delivery,
danger signs of pregnancy and referral. Over the
course of this program, the number of institutional
deliveries has more than doubled.
 South Sudan: IMC began providing health services
in the remote and conflict-plagued Tambura
County, Western Equitoria State in 2009 and has
used our consistent presence to make considerable
gains in SRH, including an eight fold increase in FP
coverage in the surrounding region and an almost
doubling in women having four or more ANC visits,
deliveries with SBAs, and postnatal visits. IMC
supports two midwifery schools and has been
instrumental in the standardization of midwifery
training in South Sudan.
 DRC: An SRH Complex in the Chambucha Health
Zone of Eastern DRC was built and equipped to
provide the highest level of care, including CMR
and fistula repair, to a population of just over
100,000, a third of whom have been displaced by
ongoing violence in the region. IMC also
rehabilitated the maternity ward at Walikale
Central Hospital and established four basic
maternity wards within health centers in Walikale
Health Zone in North Kivu to improve the
availability and quality of SRH services.
Natural Disasters:
Conflict/Early Conflict Recovery:
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Libya: During 2011’s civil war, International Medical Corps provided
basic health care service delivery with a MISP component through field
hospitals and mobile health teams. In the early recovery phases, the
focus was on underserved groups, including refugees, asylum seekers,
and undocumented migrants in detention, while advocating for and
building capacity on gender mainstreaming for civil society
organizations and policymakers.
Yemen: SRH services are integrated into health programs at 39
facilities in Sana and Taiz governorates, which has resulted in dramatic
growth of SRH activities, including CHW outreach from all facilities to
raise awareness and improve practices. Outreach includes counselling
on fertility awareness methods of FP, counselling on and referrals for
other FP methods, and tetanus vaccination; training for all facility
health care providers on the MISP package; and development of a
MISP coordination and referral hierarchy with UNFPA.
International Medical Corps ∙ 1919 Santa Monica Blvd, Suite 400 ∙ Santa
Monica, CA 90404 ∙ T. 310.826.7800 ∙ F. 310.442.6622
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Ethiopia: During the 2011 Horn of Africa famine,
IMC launched a nutrition and water and sanitation
response with an integrated MISP package. We
focused on quality improvement and increased
utilization of existing SRH services at 48
government health facilities through commodity
supply; training of HCPs; education campaigns;
enhancing CHW capacity; provision of stretchers
for transport to health facilities; and clean delivery
kit distribution. Due to high rates of very young
adolescents (VYAs) seeking health care, all health
facilities are adolescent friendly. IMC has
partnered with the Women’s Refugee Committee
to conduct operational research on the unique
SRH needs of VYAs in a humanitarian context. IMC
also provides CMR training in Dolo Ado refugee
camp to ensure that all health facilities in camps
have a HCP with CMR capacity.