Maternal Health and nutrition
Life-saving maternity care and treatment for deadly diseases
“Whoever relieves the hardship of a believer in this world, Allah will relieve his hardship on the Day of Resurrection." (Muslim)
Somalia faces severe health and humanitarian challenges:
- Life expectancy is low and under-five mortality is alarmingly high.
- Maternal and child healthcare is critically under-resourced: many women give birth without skilled care, and many children are unvaccinated or untreated.
- Millions are at risk from malnutrition, waterborne illnesses, and disease outbreaks — especially children, mothers, and displaced families.
- Health infrastructure is fragmented and limited: less than one-third of the population has reliable access to affordable health services.
In this context, the maternity services, medical treatment, vaccinations and health education our Zamzam staff provide can be a matter of life and death.
Your donation matters because every pregnancy matters
Despite advances in maternal health care, nearly 800 women across the world die every day from preventable complications in pregnancy or childbirth. These women are not just statistics — they are mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends who could have been saved with timely interventions.
Zamzam Foundation UK is a member of Every Pregnancy, a global coalition of over 50 organisations campaigning globally to save the lives of mothers and babies and delivering life-saving maternal and newborn healthcare in over 20 countries.
In Ramadan 2026 your generous support for our work will be multiplied. Your donation to Zamzam in support of healthcare for Somali mothers and babies will increase in value to us, at no extra cost to you, by triggering additional funding from a Boost Fund of $9.1 million (£6.7 million) made available exclusively to Every Pregnancy members by generous philanthropic foundations.
Provide life-saving nutrition to three severely malnourished children for £45
Save three mothers and babies with professional maternity care and safe births for £99
Shukri Ahmed is thankful for the support she has received from Zamzam’s Qalimow Health Centre in Middle Shabelle.
Shukri is just 22. Her husband is unemployed, and their three-hectare farm has been unproductive for nearly a year because of a lack of rainfall. The family are deep in debt.
Despite these challenges, Shukri has been able to rely on Qalimow as a place to give birth to two healthy children and get them vaccinated against deadly diseases.
How we support Somali mothers and their babies
Over 3,600 babies are born each year in Zamzam Foundation’s eight main health centres located in five regions – Banadir, Gedo, Middle and Lower Juba, and Middle Shabelle.
These centres are places where pregnant women from the poorest families can get medical attention and give birth safely with the support of trained midwives. Our staff also vaccinate newborns against disease, treat women and children suffering from severe malnutrition, and conduct health education sessions covering topics such as family nutrition, safe breastfeeding, hygienic food preparation, and malaria prevention.
The maternal and newborn healthcare our dedicated staff provide is part of our wide-ranging Health and Nutrition programme dedicated to reaching and serving the most vulnerable — displaced families, rural communities, mothers, children, and those without access to basic services. Our work includes:
- Clinics and medical facilities
We build, equip and support and health centres and community clinics — providing essential services including maternal and newborn healthcare, immunisations, disease treatment, and emergency care. - Nutrition support and malnutrition relief
Providing emergency nutrition assistance to children and families, treating malnutrition, and offering long-term nutritional support, especially in drought- or displacement-affected areas. - Disease prevention and response
Working to prevent outbreaks of waterborne and other infectious diseases through vaccination drives, hygiene education, and rapid response during crises. - Maternal and child health services
Focusing on antenatal care, safe deliveries, post-natal checkups, immunisations, and reproductive health services to safeguard mothers and newborns. - Health education and community awareness
Conducting outreach programmes to raise awareness about hygiene, sanitation, disease prevention, maternal care, nutrition, and general health. - Emergency and crisis health response
Providing urgent medical care, mobile clinics, and other support when disasters, displacement, or disease outbreaks strike — often in remote or underserved areas. - Integration with water and other programmes
We recognise that health is linked to water, sanitation, nutrition and livelihoods — so we coordinate health work alongside clean water, food, shelter, and livelihood support for holistic impact.
59 years is life expectancy, 14 years below the African average
1.6 million children are acutely malnourished
1 in 20 women aged 15-49 die in childbirth or from pregnancy-related causes
99,616
People diagnosed and treated through our clinics
43,659
Women and children received maternity care or vaccinations
Success story
Access to healthcare can be limited in rural Somalia. For Mako Dhuxulow, a subsistence farmer in the Buloburde district of Hiran, connecting with Zamzam’s local outreach team proved to be a lifeline.
“It used to be difficult to address health issues effectively,” says the 49-year-old mother of six. “Now our lives have changed a lot. We have access to regular health check-ups, preventive care, and treatment for various illnesses.”
Mako earns a modest income from keeping goats, cleaning people’s houses and other casual work. In the future she hopes to build up her earnings from goat milk and continue her role as a traditional midwife, inspired by the maternal and other health services Zamzam provides.
