GOAL Restores Access to Healthcare for Maragajo Community

For years, Maragajo Health Post was a vital source of healthcare for families in Kebribeyah District of Ethiopia’s Somali Region. The facility provided essential services, including maternal and child healthcare, routine immunization, and health education.

However, by late 2024, severe structural deterioration forced the health post to close. For families in Maragajo Kebele, the closure meant losing access to nearby healthcare and long travel to Kebribeyah town for basic medical services.

A Community Cut Off from Nearby Healthcare

Maragajo Kebele is home to an agro-pastoral community whose livelihoods depend mainly on livestock rearing and small-scale farming. Before its closure, the local health post played an important role in supporting the health needs of families in the area.

Over time, the condition of the facility deteriorated significantly. A damaged roof, cracked walls, poor flooring, and unusable sanitation facilities made the building unsafe for patients and health workers. The situation eventually forced the health post to stop providing services.

The closure created significant challenges, particularly for pregnant women, young children, older people, and patients requiring urgent care. Travelling to Kebribeyah town was often difficult, costly, and time-consuming for families who previously relied on services available within their community.

“When our health post closed, it felt like we were stranded,” recalls Roda Dahir Ibrahim, a 23-year-old resident of Maragajo. “Pregnant women and mothers with sick children suffered the most. We had to travel long distances just to receive basic treatment. Seeing the facility in ruins was heartbreaking because we knew how far away help had become.”

Rebuilding a Safe Place for Care

Recognising the urgent need to restore local healthcare services, GOAL, with funding from the United States Government, worked with local authorities and health partners to rehabilitate Maragajo Health Post.

The rehabilitation addressed the main structural problems affecting the facility, including repairs to the roof, walls, and flooring. The project also constructed separate sanitation facilities for women and men and installed a 10,000-litre water storage system with improved water distribution to strengthen hygiene conditions at the health post.

These improvements have created a safer and more suitable environment for both patients and health workers, allowing essential healthcare services to resume.

Farhia Omer Mohamud, a Health Extension Worker at Maragajo Health Post, witnessed the transformation firsthand.

“Before the renovation, we could not provide services safely because the building was badly damaged,” she explains. “Today, we have a clean and functional facility. We can provide routine immunization, antenatal and postnatal care, and regular health follow-up services for the community.”

Healthcare Returns Closer to Home

The rehabilitation of Maragajo Health Post has restored an important service for families who previously faced long journeys to access basic healthcare.

Mothers can now receive antenatal and postnatal care closer to home. Children can access routine immunization within their community, and health workers can deliver services from a safer and better-equipped facility.

For GOAL Ethiopia, the intervention was about more than repairing damaged infrastructure. It was about restoring a reliable pathway to healthcare for a community that had lost a critical service.

“Our objective was not only to rehabilitate a facility but also to restore access to healthcare for the community,” says Abdiselam Khelif Muhumed, GOAL Ethiopia’s Senior WASH and ESNFI Officer. “By improving infrastructure, water access, and sanitation, we created better conditions for health workers to support healthier families.”

With support from the United States Government and collaboration with local authorities and the community, Maragajo Health Post is once again serving families with essential healthcare services. A facility that once stood empty is now a place where mothers receive care, children are protected through immunization, and health workers can support the wellbeing of the community.