Edna as Keynote Speaker on End Fistula Day

Posted on May 23, 2013 in Edna Adan, Hospital News | 0 comments Edna Serves as Keynote Speaker at International Day to End Obstetric Fistula The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) designated May 23 as International Day to End Obstetric Fistula. This was the first year of “Fistula Day,” marking the tenth anniversary of the UNFPA’s Campaign to End Fistula. Who better to serve as keynote speaker at today’s celebration in Hargeisa...
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International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation

Posted on Feb 6, 2013 in Edna Adan | 2 comments Today is International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, which is a condition suffered by approximately 140 million women worldwide. Edna Adan has always used her hospital and her notoriety to educate the people of Somaliland to reject this practice, which has extraordinarily deep roots in the culture throughout the Horn of Africa. On this day, Edna has provided the following...
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Year End Newsletter 2012

Posted on Dec 17, 2012 in Edna Adan, Hospital News, Somaliland | 3 comments 2012 has been another busy year which also saw the graduation of our first 21 midwives who obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Midwifery. As always, training of health workers remains our priority because without competent health workers, patients cannot be looked after as they should. For this reason, we have launched the Edna Adan University where 200 students have registered with us to...
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Edna Adan Ismail: a Somali Inspiration

Posted on Sep 20, 2012 in Edna Adan | 5 comments The following profile was written by Joanne Butcher, BA Politics, University of Sheffield, and published here: Edna Adan Ismail: a Somali Inspiration Born in Hargeisa in 1937, Edna Adan Ismail is one of Somaliland’s most prominent public figures. From 1954 to 1961, she studied in Britain – the first Somali woman to do so – to become a nurse and midwife. After working as a civil...
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Ayaan to receive Facial Reconstruction Surgery in Australia

Posted on Jul 20, 2012 in Blog, Edna Adan | 13 comments Update March 26, 2013 Australia has refused to grant a visa to Ayaan to enter the country for medical treatment. We are utterly dismayed. Those of you who have been following Edna’s work for a long time will be aware of her efforts to find help for Ayaan who, as a small child, was shot in the face Somaliland’s war to regain its independence. A web site, HelpAyaan.org, was created,...
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Mothers Day 2012 Newsletter

Posted on May 5, 2012 in Hospital News | 0 comments Edna Adan Hospital was 10 years old on the 9th of March, 2012. During the past 10 years we delivered over 12,000 babies and treated over 14,000 patients. The achievement that we are most proud of is we have trained over 700 students, many of them in nursing and midwifery but also belonging to other disciplines such as laboratory technology and pharmacy technicians. Statistics $2000 is what we...
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Edna in Washington

Posted on Mar 8, 2012 in Edna Adan | 4 comments Edna was invited to Capitol Hill to participate in the 4th Annual International Women’s Day Breakfast, sponsored by Women Thrive Worldwide, on March 1. Edna spoke about the issue of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Following some members of Congress, and others, Edna’s presentation about FGM begins soon past the 38-minute mark. See below for a complete video of this event. “When...
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Skirball Center Interview

Posted on Jan 4, 2012 in Edna Adan, Somaliland | 0 comments The Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles has published an account of Edna’s visit there in late November, including an interview. Edna discusses the challenges she faced in building the hospital and talks about her work now. “I try to give women in my community an opportunity. They are my army, my soldiers.” The Skirball is host to an exhibit Women Hold Up Half the Sky based...
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Edna’s TEDx Video now available

Posted on Dec 24, 2011 in Edna Adan, Somaliland | 3 comments Edna was invited to Geneva three weeks ago to address a TEDx conference where she spoke about Somaliland and the building of the Edna Hospital. She described how important is the training of midwives to the goal of reducing high rates of maternal and infant mortality. If Edna, beginning at the age of 60, in a war-ravaged and unrecognized country can accomplish her goal to build a hospital and...
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Year End Newsletter 2011

Posted on Dec 17, 2011 in Edna Adan, Hospital News, Somaliland | 3 comments 2011 has been another year when once again, the Edna Adan Hospital was blessed with so many new developments as well as new friends. As our friends know, Edna started out as a Maternity hospital but in 2011 we’ve seen many new services and procedures that have changed the lives of people in Somaliland. Here are some of the examples of the 514 operations performed since January, 2011: 185...
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Edna interviewed in Switzerland

Posted on Nov 28, 2011 in Edna Adan | 4 comments Following her presentation at the TEDx conference in Geneva yesterday, Edna gave an interview to a member of the Swiss media. Edna shares her humanitarian vision with TED If an elderly woman can build a hospital, everyone has the potential to move humanitarian mountains if they put their mind to it, says Edna Adan Ismail. “We’ll be ten years old in March and it’s given life to...
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Meet Edna in Los Angeles

Posted on Nov 12, 2011 in Edna Adan | 3 comments We’ve bumped this message back to the top of the page. It’s coming up soon, the weekend before Thanksgiving. Edna Adan plans to visit the Women Hold Up Half The Sky exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles on Nov. 19, beginning at noon. If you can be in the vicinity, then you are invited to join her as she views the exhibit for the first time. Edna’s work in...
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Glowing Tribute to Edna from TEDx

Posted on Oct 26, 2011 in Edna Adan, Hospital News, Somaliland | 0 comments Edna will be addressing a TEDx conference. Not TED, precisely. Although, it will be hosted by the head of TED Europe, Bruno Giussani. About TEDx In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are...
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Edna at TEDx

Posted on Oct 23, 2011 in Edna Adan, Hospital News, Somaliland | 3 comments Edna Adan will give a presentation at the upcoming TED conference in Geneva about her work in service to the women of Somaliland. She will discuss how she came home to Hargeisa in 1997 from a career at the World Health Organization to find Somaliland’s health care system in ruins. “The ten year Civil war from 1982 to 1991 caused the death of a quarter million of our people and...
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Half the Sky exhibit opening in L.A.

Posted on Oct 15, 2011 in Edna Adan | 1 comment The book Half the Sky is the theme for a new exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, Oct. 27 through March 11, 2012. The book is by our friends and supporters Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, who include a chapter about Edna Adan and the Hospital. The Los Angeles exhibit also features Edna prominently. Nicholas Kristof, himself, will speak there on October 25. Buy Tickets...
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Every Woman Every Child Video

Posted on Oct 6, 2011 in Edna Adan | 1 comment See below for a video of the entire Every Woman Every Child conference, a United Nations webcast. Following an address by the U.N. Secretary General and several prime ministers, Edna was featured in the third panel Game Changers. You may skip ahead to 1:34 to hear from Edna. The Every Woman Every Child Plenary event took place on Tuesday September 20, 2011, at the United Nations in New York...
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Newly-Graduated Doctors for Somaliland

Posted on Aug 6, 2011 in Blog, Hospital News | 7 comments Edna cried with happiness upon the graduation of these two former Edna Hospital nurses from medical school. They are among Somaliland’s newest (and finest!) doctors. These two young women first graduated from the Edna Hospital school of Midwifery and then were trained by the Hospital as Nurses. The two showed such a lot of promise that the Edna Hospital then sponsored them through Medical...
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Scam Alert !

Posted on Jul 26, 2011 in Blog, Edna Adan | 0 comments Yes, Edna’s email was hacked again January 11, 2012. Edna is at home at the hospital. She is not stranded in Spain. They have, again, deleted her recent correspondence and her entire Contacts list, so if you have any ongoing correspondence with Edna, please send her a copy of those recent emails. If you have corresponded with Edna about anything ongoing or upcoming then be aware that Edna...
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Celebrating Mothers Day

Posted on May 5, 2011 in Hospital News | 0 comments Our friend, Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has, again, written about Edna Adan. This time, the occasion is Mother’s Day. Beyond Flowers for Mom “In a few days Americans will celebrate Mother’s Day with roses, chocolates and fine dinners, inducing warm and fuzzy feelings all around. But, in addition, I’ll bet helping mothers less fortunate...
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Video: Hospital’s Ever-Expanding Mission

Posted on Apr 29, 2011 in Hospital News | 0 comments “Originally intended to be a small, normal maternity facility…” In this video, Edna Adan relates how the mission of the hospital expanded from the original goal of serving expectant mothers. More than 10,000 babies have now been born at the Edna Hospital. In addition, the hospital treats everything from snake bite to war wounds. Turned out, there were not enough trained nurses,...
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150 Women Who Shake the World

Posted on Mar 12, 2011 in Edna Adan | 0 comments The annual Women in the World Summit is going on now in New York City. Edna Adan is participating again this year, and she has been named to this list of 150 women who shake the world. Complete list of world-shaking women Newsweek and The Daily Beast Honor 150 Extraordinary Women “They are heads of state and heads of household, angry protesters in the city square and sly iconoclasts in...
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