Our Story
South Sudanese Women In Medicine (SSWIM) was conceptualized in April 2020, almost nine years after South Sudan gained its independence and in the wake of the COVID19 pandemic. The idea was finally brought to life through the commitment of a team of women physicians, dentists and pharmacists alongside two he-for-she colleagues in the medical and legal professions.
The founding team saw it imperative to establish a platform that would be exclusively committed to the inclusion and advancement of medical women in three categories of medicine, dentistry and pharmacy in the South Sudan healthcare landscape. Deliberations on formalities ensued over months until the official registration of SSWIM as a non-profit under the laws of South Sudan in September 2020.
The contextual analysis which elicited the birth of SSWIM comprised of the following among others:
1. A wanting state of health care in South Sudan requiring the concerted efforts and active engagement of South Sudanese medical women in improving health care for all South Sudanese.
2. Generally low numbers of women in the broader medical fraternity and health leadership in South Sudan.
3. Low involvement of medical women in cooperative action and in shaping health care in South Sudan.
4. Low visibility of South Sudanese medical women in the profession of medicine and their work.
5. Poor societal perceptions discriminatory attitudes and practices towards women, including medical women in South Sudan
It is these issues and others elaborated in the inaugural SSWIM strategy that compelled the founding team to provide the necessary leadership for founding an organization that would actively engage South Sudanese women in positively shaping health care in South Sudan while at the same time spotlighting their work and achievements and empowering them to take up leadership and advance in their careers.
Through supporting medical women to fully participate in health programs and quality health services delivery in South Sudan, we are empowering them to advocate for work towards improving the health of women, children and families. With the recognized shortage of health workers in South Sudan, we are also ensuring that this highly trained cadre of health workers continues to be recruited and retained in the medical workforce. These efforts go a long way to increase the health workforce pool, better health outcomes for South Sudanese and eventually lives save as is enshrined in our SSWIM motto: ‘Empower to save lives.’
