<b>Health Policy Analysis of Maternal and Newborn Health (MNH) Prioritization in South Sudan – Qualitative Interview Dataset</b>

This dataset comprises 32 anonymized qualitative key-informant interview transcripts generated under Workstream 1 of the EQUAL study, a health-policy analysis of how maternal and newborn health (MNH) is prioritized in South Sudan. Interviews were conducted in Aweil East County, Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, in early 2025 with three groups of informants: community representatives, facility-based health workers and facility managers, and county- and state-level health officials. The interviews explore the availability and implementation of MNH policies and guidelines; accountability and feedback mechanisms; health financing and decision-making; the roles of community stakeholders and of women in decision-making; perceptions of community-based MNH delivery; and the impact of crises — notably seasonal flooding and conflict-related population movement — on service provision.The transcripts were de-identified under a documented protocol (direct and indirect identifiers removed or generalized; singular role-holders abstracted; sensitive contextual detail generalized; document metadata cleaned). Because the data originate from a conflict-affected setting with small administrative units, and because the original consent did not permit fully open deposit, the dataset is offered under controlled/tiered access; this record provides the open descriptive metadata. See the README and Access-Tier Statement for full documentation and access conditions.