Nasra’s story shows what can happen when local leadership connects with resources and partnership to bring safer maternal and newborn care within reach.
When Nasra arrived at Baitulmaal Hope Hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia, she was about to give birth after spending her entire pregnancy without a single prenatal visit.
Not by choice. Care had simply been out of reach.
For months, she carried her baby without the reassurance of routine antenatal care or knowing what would happen if complications arose.
But when she arrived at Hope Hospital, something changed.
With trained doctors and nurses beside her, Nasra safely delivered a healthy baby girl, Sagal, one of the first babies born at the newly opened hospital. Sagal received essential newborn care immediately.
“This is the first time I felt truly safe giving birth,” Nasra said.
Her story is personal, but the gap behind it is much larger. In 2023, Somalia’s maternal mortality ratio was estimated at 563 deaths for every 100,000 live births. WHO
The country’s health system is also under significant pressure. Conflict, climate shocks, disease outbreaks and displacement continue to disrupt access to care, while WHO reports that 95% of Somalia’s healthcare funding is supported by external donors, leaving services vulnerable to shifts in global financing. WHO
Much of what is needed to make pregnancy and childbirth safer is already known.
The challenge is making sure proven care actually reaches a mother when and where she needs it.
Bringing care closer
In November 2025, Baitulmaal opened Hope Hospital in Garasballey District, Mogadishu, to expand healthcare for internally displaced people and underserved families.
The 30 bed hospital provides adult, pediatric and maternity services and is equipped to serve approximately 50 to 100 patients each day. Baitulmaal
At its heart is a dedicated maternity unit made possible in part through a Gates Foundation grant in partnership with Every Pregnancy.
Women can access antenatal and postnatal care, skilled delivery services, emergency obstetric surgery including cesarean sections, and reproductive health services. Baitulmaal
But safe maternity care takes more than a building.
A mother needs somewhere she can reach. Health workers need the environment and tools to provide quality care. Complications need to be recognized and treated quickly. And when a woman needs more specialized support, there needs to be somewhere she can go next.
For mothers like Nasra, the gap is not simply whether effective care exists.
It is whether the people, resources and services needed to deliver that care come together when she needs them.
Building on local strength
Baitulmaal did not begin supporting mothers and newborns with the opening of Hope Hospital.
The organization already brought humanitarian and healthcare experience, local relationships and the ability to work in underserved communities. As an Every Pregnancy implementing partner, Baitulmaal supports maternal and newborn health work across Somalia, Kenya and Gaza through healthcare services, equipment, nutrition and support for frontline caregivers. Every Pregnancy
The coalition did not create that local strength. The opportunity was to help it reach further.
That principle is central to Every Pregnancy.
Rather than operating as a single implementer, Every Pregnancy works with organizations that already understand the communities they serve, connecting partners around resources, evidence and proven maternal and newborn health approaches. Today, its coalition brings together more than 65 faith inspired organizations around a shared commitment to mothers and newborns. Every Pregnancy
At Hope Hospital, that partnership became tangible. Resources helped strengthen maternity capacity, while Baitulmaal brought the local operating experience and trained Somali health professionals needed to translate that support into care. Baitulmaal
Connecting care around a mother
The pathway does not stop at the maternity ward.
Hope Hospital benefits from a referral partnership with Jazeera University Hospital, helping patients continue to higher levels of care when needed. The arrangement is intended to keep fees low and waive them for people facing financial hardship, including internally displaced families. Baitulmaal
That matters because a referral only works if a mother can actually use it.
A maternity unit, skilled health workers, emergency obstetric care, referral and affordability may look like separate pieces of a health system.
For a mother, they are part of the same journey.
This is where Every Pregnancy’s role becomes clearer. Its value is not in replacing the organization closest to the community, but in helping strong local capability connect with additional resources, partnerships and learning so effective care can reach further. Every Pregnancy
When resources become care
Today, Hope Hospital has new capacity to provide antenatal and postnatal services, skilled delivery and emergency obstetric care in a community where access has been limited. The facility is designed to serve 50 to 100 patients each day. Baitulmaal
Those numbers tell one part of the story.
Nasra and Sagal show what they mean.
After an entire pregnancy without prenatal care, Nasra reached a facility where trained professionals were there when she went into labour.
She delivered Sagal safely.
Her daughter received essential newborn care.
And after months of uncertainty, Nasra could finally say that she felt safe giving birth.
For her, the funding, infrastructure and partnership came down to something much more human:
when she needed care, there was finally somewhere safe to go.
A partnership that reaches further
The relationship between Baitulmaal and the coalition began before Hope Hospital.
In 2023, Baitulmaal joined For Mama, alongside faith inspired organizations and donors mobilizing around maternal, newborn and child health. That initiative later grew into Every Pregnancy. Baitulmaal Every Pregnancy
And the collaboration has continued beyond Mogadishu.
In Wajir County, Kenya, Baitulmaal provided essential medical equipment alongside a five day Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care mentorship program for health workers at Wajir County Referral Hospital. The initiative was implemented in part through Gates Foundation funding and in partnership with Every Pregnancy. Baitulmaal
The combination matters: equipment is more useful when the people providing care are also supported with the skills to use it effectively.
In 2026, that relationship extended into newborn care innovation. Every Pregnancy worked alongside Baitulmaal in Kenya to help connect frontline facilities with newborn care technology and practical health worker training. The work included Vayu Global Health’s Bubble CPAP, designed to provide respiratory support in lower resource settings without relying on electricity or compressed medical air. Every Pregnancy
The interventions are different, but the principle is consistent:
local knowledge, resources, skills and appropriate innovation have greater potential when they are connected.
Baitulmaal itself has described the value of that relationship. In 2026, CEO Mazen Mokhtar said participation in Every Pregnancy had enabled the organization to “significantly expand” its maternal health programming, pointing specifically to Hope Hospital as one example. Every Pregnancy
A mother experiences one journey
Maternal and newborn health can be described through financing, facilities, health workers, technology and referral systems.
But a mother does not experience them separately.
A mother experiences one journey.
For Nasra, that journey began with months without prenatal care.
When it was time to give birth, something was different.
There was a hospital she could reach.
There were trained professionals ready to care for her.
There was essential care for Sagal as she entered the world.
Behind that moment was Baitulmaal’s local leadership, strengthened through resources and partnership that helped maternity care reach further. Baitulmaal
That is what collective reach means to us at Every Pregnancy.
Not replacing local leadership, but connecting the strengths that already exist with the resources, expertise and relationships that can help them go further.
For Nasra and Sagal, that meant safe care when it mattered most.
Help proven care reach further
Strong local organizations already hold experience, relationships and solutions.
Every Pregnancy helps connect those strengths with the resources, expertise and partnerships that allow proven maternal and newborn care to reach more mothers and babies.
Partner with Every Pregnancy →