Edna Adan Ismail
Encyclopedia
Hargeisa
Hargeisa is a city in the northwestern Woqooyi Galbeed region of Somalia. With a population of approximately 2 million residents, it is the second largest city in the country. Hargeisa is the capital of Somaliland, a self-declared republic that is internationally recognized as an autonomous region...
, is the former Foreign Minister
Foreign minister
A Minister of Foreign Affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign state. The foreign minister is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government . It is often granted to the deputy prime minister in...
of the autonomous Somaliland
Somaliland
Somaliland is an unrecognised self-declared sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. The government of Somaliland regards itself as the successor state to the British Somaliland protectorate, which was independent for a few days in 1960 as the State of...
region in northwest Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
. She held this office from 2003 until 2006, and had previously served as Somaliland's Minister of Family Welfare and Social Development. She was married to Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal who was Head of Government in British Somaliland
British Somaliland
British Somaliland was a British protectorate in the northern part of present-day Somalia. For much of its existence, British Somaliland was bordered by French Somaliland, Ethiopia, and Italian Somaliland. From 1940 to 1941, it was occupied by the Italians and was part of Italian East Africa...
one year prior to Somalia's independence and later the Prime Minister of Somalia (1967–1969) and President of Somaliland (1993–2002).
She is the director and founder of the Edna Adan Maternity Hospital
Edna Adan Maternity Hospital
Edna Adan Maternity Hospital is a non-profit charity hospital built in Hargeisa, Somaliland. Founded by the autonomous northwestern Somaliland region's former foreign minister and former first lady of Somalia, Edna Adan Ismail, the hospital has as its primary mission to provide better health care...
in Hargeisa. She is an activist and pioneer in the struggle for the abolition of female circumcision and is President of the Organization for Victims of Torture.
Biography
Edna Adan was born the daughter of a prominent Somali medical doctor and was trained as a nurse in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
at the Borough Polytechnic, now London South Bank University
London South Bank University
London South Bank University is a university in south London. With over 25,000 students and 1,700 staff, it is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name...
(the first Somali girl to study in Britain http://books.google.com/books?id=lRbyHv7gLacC&pg=PA124&lpg=PA124&dq=%22first+somali+girl+to+study+in+britain%22&source=bl&ots=ONsJy0ViX1&sig=L23SL3LbJ59CBZVooylmYRyYbxQ&hl=en&ei=atNSTJX3KsHflgebrLiVBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22first%20somali%20girl%20to%20study%20in%20britain%22&f=false), becoming Somalia's first qualified nurse-midwife http://books.google.com/books?id=lRbyHv7gLacC&pg=PA124&lpg=PA124&dq=%22first+somali+girl+to+study+in+britain%22&source=bl&ots=ONsJy0ViX1&sig=L23SL3LbJ59CBZVooylmYRyYbxQ&hl=en&ei=atNSTJX3KsHflgebrLiVBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22first%20somali%20girl%20to%20study%20in%20britain%22&f=false. She was also the first Somali woman to drive http://books.google.com/books?id=lRbyHv7gLacC&pg=PA124&lpg=PA124&dq=%22first+somali+girl+to+study+in+britain%22&source=bl&ots=ONsJy0ViX1&sig=L23SL3LbJ59CBZVooylmYRyYbxQ&hl=en&ei=atNSTJX3KsHflgebrLiVBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22first%20somali%20girl%20to%20study%20in%20britain%22&f=false. She later married Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal, a Somali politician who was elected Prime Minister of Somalia in 1967.
Mogadishu
Mogadishu , popularly known as Xamar, is the largest city in Somalia and the nation's capital. Located in the coastal Benadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an important port for centuries....
in the mid-1980s. However, before it was completed, the Somali Civil War
Somali Civil War
The Somali Civil War is an ongoing civil war taking place in Somalia. The conflict, which began in 1991, has caused destabilisation throughout the country, with the current phase of the conflict seeing the Somali government losing substantial control of the state to rebel forces...
began, and she was forced to leave the country. She was the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
(WHO) Regional Nursing Adviser during 1986. From 1987 to 1991, she was Regional Technical Officer for Mother and Child Health, with responsibility for issues relating to harmful traditional practices which affect the health of women and children (such as female genital mutilation), and for training of midwives and Traditional Birth Attendants in the 22 countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region of WHO. Afterwards, she was the representative of WHO in Djibouti
Djibouti
Djibouti , officially the Republic of Djibouti , is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east...
between 1991 and 1997.
She returned to Somaliland and built from scratch a maternity hospital, which she continues to run. The Edna Adan Maternity Hospital officially opened on March 9, 2002 in land donated to her by the regional government at a site formerly used as a garbage dump.
The region lacked trained nurses to staff the hospital - as most had either fled the country or been killed during the civil war - and so Edna recruited more than 30 candidates and began training them in 2000 while the hospital was still under construction. The hospital now has two operating theatres, laboratory, library, computer center and a complete wing dedicated to training nurses and midwives.
The mission of the Edna Adan Hospital is to help to improve the health of the local inhabitants, in particular the high rate of maternal and infant mortality. The facility is a non-profit making charity and a midwifery teaching hospital that is also undertaking the training of student nurses and Assistant Laboratory Technicians.
Edna Adan Ismail was the only woman minister in the Somaliland government until July 2006, when she was replaced as Foreign Minister by former Minister of Information and National Guidance Abdillahi Mohamed Dualeh.
In recognition of her lifelong contribution to Humanitarian work, the name of Edna Adan Ismail was added to the Medical Mission Hall of Fame,University of Toledo
University of Toledo
The University of Toledo is a public university in Toledo, Ohio, United States. The Carnegie Foundation classified the university as "Doctoral/Research Extensive."-National recognition:...
, Ohio, in March 2007. She has an Honorary Doctoral Degree from Clark University
Clark University
Clark University is a private research university and liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts.Founded in 1887, it is the oldest educational institution founded as an all-graduate university. Clark now also educates undergraduates...
in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
and was made Honorary Fellow of Cardiff University
Cardiff University
Cardiff University is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based...
School of Nursing in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
on July 8, 2008.
See also
- Edna Adan Maternity HospitalEdna Adan Maternity HospitalEdna Adan Maternity Hospital is a non-profit charity hospital built in Hargeisa, Somaliland. Founded by the autonomous northwestern Somaliland region's former foreign minister and former first lady of Somalia, Edna Adan Ismail, the hospital has as its primary mission to provide better health care...
- Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal
- SomalilandSomalilandSomaliland is an unrecognised self-declared sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. The government of Somaliland regards itself as the successor state to the British Somaliland protectorate, which was independent for a few days in 1960 as the State of...
External links
- Edna Adan Maternity Hospital
- Video of Nicholas Kristof visiting the Edna Aden Hospital
- Edna's House of Healing, video profile of Edna and her hospital YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- Interview of Edna Adan June 2002 on BBC RadioBBC RadioBBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...