Exploring Reproductive Health Among Women in Somaliland
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- This is an observational study: the protocol does not assign a study treatment.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Reproductive Health, Gestatiaonl Diabetes Mellitus, Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy, Contraception. Basic parameters: No limits · Female.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Somalia
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Official title
Exploring Reproductive Health Among Women in Somaliland: Protocol for a Community-based Prospective Cohort Study and an Intervention Co-creation (The PROMISE Study)
Overview
Somaliland faces persistently high burdens of maternal and perinatal mortality, with limited population-based data on pregnancy complications, sociocultural influence on maternal health, and women's reproductive health needs across the continuum of pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum. Existing maternal near-miss (MNM) tools are largely facility-based, and evidence of postpartum contraceptive uptake and interventions remains scarce. In response, the objective of this study is to unfold the physical, cultural, and psychosocial strengths and challenges experienced by women in Somaliland during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period; to examine how these factors interact to influence pregnancy outcomes and women's ability to achieve future reproductive health goals; and to pilot how these insights can inform the co-creation of context-appropriate health materials. The PROMISE study is a community-based longitudinal pregnancy cohort in Hargeisa, Somaliland, including approximately 800 pregnant women \<28 weeks of gestation recruited from randomly selected sub-districts. Women will be followed up at three time points (early pregnancy, late pregnancy, and postpartum) using questionnaires and clinical measurements. A MNM tool will be adapted through a Delphi process, and its validity will be tested using the cohort. The cohort findings will inform a co-creation process to develop postpartum contraceptive counselling materials to be pilot-tested for feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects. This protocol responds to major evidence gaps in fragile and low-resource contexts, and aims to generate contextually grounded knowledge and co-created interventions to strengthen maternal health policy, practice, and reproductive agency in Somaliland and beyond.
Primary outcome measures
- Adverse birth outcomes [Time frame: Assessed 1 to 3 months post partum]
Secondary outcome measures (10)
- Antenatal care visits [Time frame: Assessed between gestational age 36 and birth as well as between 1 to 3 months postpartum]
- Proportion of pregnant women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) [Time frame: Assessed between gestational age 36 and birth as well as between 1 to 3 months postpartum]
- Proportion of pregnant women with Gestational Diabetes [Time frame: Assessed between gestational age 36 and birth as well as between 1 to 3 months postpartum]
- Postpartum depression [Time frame: One to three months postpartum]
- Social support [Time frame: Assessed between gestational age 36 and birth]
- Self-care [Time frame: Assessed between gestational age 36 and birth]
- Collective Decision-making [Time frame: Assessed between gestational age 36 and birth]
- Wish to use contraception [Time frame: One to three months postpartum]
- Contraceptive plans [Time frame: One to three months postpartum]
- Contraception use [Time frame: One to three months postpartum]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Pregnant woman
- Gestational age less than 28 weeks at the time of recruitment
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Observational model
- Cohort
Study locations
Somalia · 1 center
- University of Hargeisa — Hargeisa
Identifiers
NCT: NCT07438379 · PROMISE_Study_Hargeisa_477/6