bold idea
Build sustainable, high quality, and affordable public health care in the Horn of Africa through community-led solutions in direct service delivery to marginalized peoples, capacity building for medical providers, and public health research, education, and advocacy.
organization overview
The Hagarla Institute is strengthening health care systems in the Horn of Africa. Hagarla provides affordable, high-quality health care to women, displaced peoples, and other marginalized Somalis in rural health centers. In partnership with global universities, Hagarla finds gaps in public health delivery and improves the quality of data on health outcomes and understudied conditions (e.g., cancer, diabetes). Through public events and intensive trainings for doctors, midwives, and medical students, Hagarla is improving medical providers’ skills and knowledge of chronic conditions. Hagarla plans to expand these efforts throughout the region, undertake public health policy advocacy, and incubate other health care organizations.
Personal Bio
Dr. Deqo Mohamed is the founder and executive director of the Hagarla Institute, which develops sustainable health care systems in Somalia and the surrounding region. As a teenager, Deqo helped her mother, Dr. Hawa Abdi, to deliver babies and save lives in the hospital and displaced-persons camp that their family ran outside of Mogadishu. After Deqo earned her MD in Russia, she served as CEO of the Dr. Hawa Abdi Foundation, which supported the camp, until 2020. Deqo founded a primary and secondary school in the camp and strengthened regional education and health care systems by launching Aspire Africa, a training and mentorship program for teachers in post-conflict zones, and running mobile health clinics throughout rural Somalia. She forged partnerships—including one with Yale University (where Deqo was a 2016 Greenberg World Fellow)—to support her work. Deqo’s other honors include an honorary degree from Chatham University and the African Leadership Network Women Bell Award. Deqo maintains an OB/GYN practice while pursuing her vision for transformed health care systems through Hagarla.
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