Edna Adan Maternity Hospital is a non-profit charity

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

built in Hargeisa, Somalia. It was northwestern Somalia region's former

foreign minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

and former

first lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

of Somalia, Edna Adan Ismail. The hospital has as its primary mission to provide better health care to people whose lives have been traumatized by war, and also to provide training for nurses, midwives, and other health workers. In addition to services and facilities relating specifically to maternal and infant health care, the hospital has diagnostic laboratory facilities and an emergency blood bank, and offers diagnosis and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. The hospital seeks to fill not only the urgent need for health care but also to provide — in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, UNICEF, and WHO – training for a new generation of nurses and midwives qualified to provide Reproductive Health care throughout the Northwestern Somalia. Another aspect of the hospital's mission is to combat the practice of female circumcision, which is endemic to the region. Mothers of newborn girls are counseled on the dangers of having their child circumcised, but the tradition is strongly ingrained in the culture.

History

Following the Somali Civil War, the entire health infrastructure of Somaliland was effectively destroyed and there were few, if any, trained medical personnel remaining in the region. The rate of maternal and infant mortality was among the highest in the world. Edna Adan donated her

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pension A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

and other personal assets to build the hospital so that she might help to address the grave health crisis. Needing, first of all, a place to build her hospital, she asked the government for land near the city center. They responded by offering her 9600 square meters which previously had served as a garbage dump. The construction of the hospital was started on January 1, 1998 and as it progressed, private individuals, business people in Somaliland and elsewhere, as well as international organizations, also made valuable contributions enabling the hospital to become functional on the March 9, 2002.

Direct Relief Direct Relief (formerly known as Direct Relief International) is a nonprofit humanitarian organization that provides emergency medical assistance and disaster relief in the United States and internationally. The organization is headed by an inde ...

describes the hospital as Somaliland's premier referral center for obstetric emergencies. The hospital trains nurses and midwives under the close supervision of Mrs. Ismail, herself a trained nurse, whose residence is inside of the hospital. The hospital is supported by two charities: The Edna Adan Foundation first became a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

in 2016 in the UK. The oldest charity, established in 2000, is the non-profit Friends of Edna's Maternity Hospital; it maintains an endowment fund to ensure the continuation of Edna's work long into the future.

References

External links

* *
The Terror of Motherhood in Somaliland
On The Issues
Saving Somaliland
radio interview Radio Netherlands Worldwide
On Maternal Mortality, Why Africa Falls So Far Behind
article at RH Reality Check * {{Authority control Hospital buildings completed in 2002 Hospitals established in 2002 Maternity hospitals in Somaliland Organisations based in Hargeisa 2002 establishments in Somaliland Hospitals in Somaliland

History

See also

References

External links