GMF is a Non-Political, Non-Profit seeking, Non-governmental Organization (NGO) established in 2001 in accordance with the laws in Puntland State, Somalia. The GMF founded the Galkayo Medical Center (GMC) as the platform upon which to deliver healthcare services to the people of Somalia. The GMC’s activities are guided by the Foundation’s vision of ‘a progressive and sustainable Somalia, wherein all people live peacefully with dignity, enjoying social, political and economic equality.’ The overriding mission is to provide free medical services to the displaced, poor and disenfranchised communities in Puntland and Central Somalia.
The GMC continues its work in Puntland State and Central Somalia, reaching those populations most vulnerable and in the greatest need of general healthcare and reproductive health and FGM corrective services, especially the girl child, women and youth. The GMC has been in existence for about 19 years and has gathered expertise in medical service delivery, especially surgery, gynaecology and obstetrics. The GMC has a reputation as one of the healthcare providers being positively regarded and recognized by stakeholders within and outside Somalia. Through its experience of community healthcare campaigns to date, GMC realizes that communities are faced with a gap of current information and facts about SRHR and FGM. It is however realized that to bridge this gap it is not possible act in solitude but through collaboration and partnership with other organizations as well as Community Health Workers (CHWs), Traditional Birth Attendants and volunteers.
The GMF programs provide its free health care services through the health posts and/or Primary Health Care Units (PHCUs) whose functions include: treatment of common illnesses; emergency and first aid for trauma cases; wound cleaning and dressing; referral complicated cases (to GMC) from the health posts or PHCUs; health education; reproductive health activities including distribution of clean delivery kits; awareness on HIV and AIDS stigma and discrimination reduction and prevention; voluntary testing and counseling of HIV AIDS (VCT); dispensary essential drugs and treatment of STI infections among IDPs; emergency referral of Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) cases for treatment and repairing Obstetric Fistula (OF), treatment of complications related to FGM and other services by the department of trauma center with high level orthopedic surgery and Major General Surgery.
In its strategy to provide quality services, GMC shall take into consideration four major perspectives:
1) Beneficiaries’ access to affordable quality and comprehensive RH(free service) and FGM services,
2) Improved power, 3) voice and 4) contribution to decision making and policy on SRHR. To achieve these, the GMF shall seek to improve its programme design and management, linkages, collaboration and networking. GMF will document the process of managing the proposed project through closure. However, the centre acknowledges that it will need resources to increase its visibility and communicate results. This further implies a call to diversify the resource base.