A Boma Health Worker is delivering basic healthcare packages in his community.

The Boma Health Initiative

By Holly Morton, Health Consultant, Crown Agents

In South Sudan, poor access to health services coupled with severe shortages in health workers have resulted in some of the world’s worst health indicators. Neonatal and under-five mortality rates are at one in ten. Having experienced nearly continuous political and inter-communal conflict since 1955, there have been massive displacements of citizens to remote areas where basic health services are scarcely available. 56% of the population lives more than 5km from a health facility, and the country’s road network is limited- during wet season 60% of the country is flooded. 

In 2017, the Ministry of Health (MoH) in South Sudan launched the Boma Health Initiative (BHI), a national scale Community Health program that aims to strengthen the health system in South Sudan and efficiently deliver an integrated package of health promotion and disease prevention activities at the Community (Boma) level.

Through the Health Pool Fund Programme (HPF), Crown Agents has been operationalizing the Boma Health Initiative since April 2019. HPF provides quality healthcare in 8 out of 10 states in South Sudan. At present, the HPF platform has a reach across 70% of the population, covering over 7.5 million people and 500 health facilities. 


A Boma Health Worker informs her community about preventable diseases.

In less than three years, a total of 4,400 Boma Health Workers (BHWs) have been recruited, trained and are providing services in their communities. This includes treatments to children below five years for uncomplicated cases of malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea and the identification and referral of immunization defaulters and zero dose children to health facilities for immunization. 

Since the program began, a total of 3,388,862 treatments were provided to children under five at the community level; 1,599,776 Malaria, 797,489 Diarrhea, 991,597 pneumonia, and a total of 255,036 children were identified as immunization defaulters and referred for immunization. 

For more information on Crown Agents’ Boma Health Initiative, please click here.