Sanaag Region

Sanaag is a remote eastern region of Somaliland, which bordered by approximately 380 kilometres of Red Sea coastline to the north and locates the border between Somaliland and eastern regions of Somalia.

The region is divided into three districts: Erigavo, Badhan and Ceel AF weyne (El Afweyne), with the towns of Erigavo as the regional capital and Badhan and El Afweyne as the district capitals.

In terms of development, both the former central governments of Somalia and current Somaliland government and by International agencies and other NGOs, the region of Sanaag has been almost totally neglected. There are no surfaced roads in the region and services of almost any type are non-existent in the towns and the villages.

Sanaag region lacks an adequate transport, communication and infrastructures, leading to a chronic lack of public services, particularly the important areas such as:

• Health services

• Education        

• Agriculture  

• Water supply

The potential for agricultural developments has been largely unexploited and much work is needed in the livestock sector to improve herds and reduce environmental degradation.

The mountainous nature of the region, the poor state of roads and communications and general difficulty in transporting supplies into the region indicate that any development project should proceed gradually and that adequate time should be allowed for implementation.

Health situation

• In health sector, health facilities are almost totally absent from villages to district capitals and there is a skeleton health service in the region capital.

• No basic medical facilities exists in the district hospitals and even the three district hospitals are virtually non-functional due to shortages of staff, supplies equipment, drugs, fuel and vehicles, and almost total lack of ongoing training, supervision, evaluation and maintenance equipment.

•  Many health problems are evident in the region, the maternal mortality rate and incidence of TB are extremely high, and the infant mortality rate and incidence of vaccine preventable diseases, childhood communicable diseases, anaemia, malnutrition, respiratory tract infections, diarrhoeas and problems associated with pregnancy and childbirth are serious health problems.

Education Situation and Environments etc (to be added soon)