Upon retirement Edna Adan Ismail opened in 2002 the first hospital in her home country, Somaliland. Nowadays it is a major referral hospital as well as a teaching hospital for nurses, midwives and other health professionals including medical students and anaesthesia technicians (www.ednahospital.org). Dr. Shukri is one of her most talented students. Currently she is trained to become the first fistula surgeon in her country. Together they will share with us their experiences: Somaliland, building up maternity care in a country destroyed by civil war.
Born in Hargeisa in1937, she was trained as nurse and midwife in the UK. In 1961 she returned home becoming the first qualified Midwife in Somaliland. Her career for the WHO started in 1965. In 1991 she became WHO Representative in the Republic of Djibouti where she served until retirement in 1997. In 2002 she became the first and only woman Minister in the Government of Somaliland when she served as Minister of Social Affairs, and between 2003 and 2006, she was Somaliland’s Foreign Minister. For her impressive work she has received numerous awards and she has been invited to several international conferences, like the Lancet commission of Safe Surgery. In order to reduce the high maternal mortality rate of the women in her country, her lifetime goal is to train 1000 Midwives to work in remote areas in Somaliland and encourages other countries in Africa to train 1 million Midwives to work in African countries with similar harsh conditions for women like Somaliland.
Dr. Shukri became one of two first female doctors in Somaliland. First she graduated as midwife at the Edna Adan hospital. Due to her talent and motivation she received sponsoring for medical school. After graduation in 2011 she was one of the first female medical staff members of the Edna Adan hospital. This ambitious lady is still improving her skills. She became the first national trainer on infant resuscitation. Dr Shukri is currently focusing on surgery and recently performed her first obstetric fistula operations.
The health of the people of Somaliland is among the worst in Africa, with one of the highest Maternal and Infant Mortality rates in the world. This tragedy can be attributed in large part to the long civil war, which brought about the death or departure of nearly all of the country’s trained health care professionals. The republic of Somaliland became independent in 1960. It merged with former Italian Colony of Somalia when it too became independent in 1960. This merger was doomed from the started. Regrettably it resulted in a long civil war. The sovereignty of Somaliland was restored in 1991.