Somaliland, the former British Protectorate became independent from Britain on 26 June 1960. Five days later, it united with the Italian Somaliland on 1st July 1960 to form the Somali Democratic Republic. Somaliland with an estimated population of 3.5 million occupies about 176,000 square kilometers. The bulk of the country is mainly lowland and semi-arid or arid lands that receives a meager rainfall of between 150-300mm from the two rainy season locally known as GU' and Deyr. More than 60% of population live as pastoralist as their main livelihoods. Hence, livestock export accounts for 60-65% of the national economy. It is also widely believed that the country receives annual remittance of 500 million to one billion US Dollars. Following three decades of marginalization, oppression and the subsequent civil struggle, the Republic of Somaliland was proclaimed as sovereign nation in 1991. The country with elected president and democratic government enjoys peace, stability and good governance with all necessary accoutrements of modern state in place. However, Somaliland is not yet internationally recognized, which hinders progress in many areas particularly

A decade of civil struggle left Somaliland health institutions completely destroyed. After declaration of Somaliland's independence, the health sector as part of the nation building, has been gradually recovering although facing multiple challenges. One of the major challenges is that the health sector has so far remained unregulated. Due to the paucity of health professionals, many unskilled workers have found themselves to be "health professionals". Pharmacies and other health facilities are often licensed to and run by unprofessional staff.

The proliferation of unregulated and unaccredited health institutes has further complicated the health sector. The health training institutes, many of them private and unrecognized by the Government of Somaliland still continue to produce fresh graduates without accreditation. Quality health care measurements are not often applied. Drugs including significant number of counterfeit drugs and other medical consumables are sold like any other commodity in the market. All of these ills contributed to the violations of patient rights. Many patients have lost their lives or have become disabled as result of poor services provided by unskilled health workers. If not regulated and accredited, the problems which Somaliland citizens are facing will continue and will put many other lives at risk. Therefore, developing and enforcing accreditation and regulation structures and registration systems will help the government of Somaliland in general, and the MoH and NHPC in particular, to address these formidable challenges.

National Health Professionals Commission (NHPC) In 1999 an act of Parliament of the Republic of Somaliland was passed to establish the National Health Professions Commission (NHPC). The mandate of the organization is to register, license and accredit health professionals, health training institutions and health service facilities. As a regulatory body, with the Act 19/2001 amended in 2013 and passed into law in January, 2013, NHPC's goal is to ensure that health cadres, health training institution and health service provision meets the standard requirements expected of them in order to provide quality health services to Somaliland citizens