Edna Adan Ismail: a Somali Inspiration

Posted on Sep 20, 2012 in Edna Adan | 6 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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21 Midwives Awarded Bachelor of Science Degrees

Posted on Sep 16, 2012 in Hospital News | 6 comments “Today was a big day in my life and a big day for Midwives and a big day for Somaliland! “My daughters – 21 of them! – graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Midwifery. “The President of Somaliland and other dignitaries were there for the total of 640 students who were graduating from Hargeisa University. Our sincere gratitude goes to the Friends of the Edna...
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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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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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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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U.N. Report: Midwives Could Save 3.6 Million Lives

Posted on Jun 21, 2011 in Hospital News | 1 comment Adequate Midwifery Could Save 3.6 Million Lives, New Report Shows 38 of 58 countries surveyed could miss their MDG5 targets without 112,000 more midwives Up to 3.6 million deaths could be avoided each year in 58 developing countries if midwifery services are upgraded by 2015, according to the United Nations Population Fund. The State of the World’s Midwifery 2011, launched at the Triennial...
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Recent Achievements at Edna Hospital

Posted on Mar 19, 2011 in Hospital News | 0 comments Here is a summary, provided by Edna Adan, of some of the highlights of these past few months: 1. After the operating theatre was opened, we had the visit of surgeons from Kijabe hospital who performed the first operations in the new facilities equipped with supplies received from the Fistula Foundation and Direct Relief. Among the operations performed were seven children with hydrocephalus who...
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Graduation Photos

Posted on Nov 17, 2010 in Hospital News | 0 comments We have a new set of Graduation Ceremony photos to announce. This one was very well attended. Included were the First Lady of Somaliland; the Minister of Health; the Foreign Minister; the Information Minister; as well as a Sultan and several other dignitaries. View Nov. 2010 Graduation Photos Recommend on FacebookTweet about it...
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Midwives’ Finals + American baby

Posted on Oct 24, 2010 in Hospital News | 0 comments Edna sends news, and photos, from the hospital today. “This morning, we had our First USA baby born at our hospital and delivered by one of our trained midwives. Emily Clarkson is the wife of one of the professors at Hargeisa University and chose to have the baby with us.” And, another group of Midwives will soon graduate. Edna’s goal is to train 1000 midwives at the hospital...
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Nursing Awards

Posted on May 21, 2010 in Hospital News | 1 comment On the 8th of May, we had our annual celebration of the Somaliland Nursing and Midwifery Association. On this occasion, some nurses and midwives were honored. We are proud to let you know that two of our Midwives received the Best Midwives Awards from the SNMA. Both were trained at our hospital and both work at our hospital and really deserve the honor. Recommend on FacebookTweet about it
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New Profile of Edna

Posted on Mar 13, 2010 in Edna Adan, Somaliland | 0 comments Lynn Sherr has published a new article profiling Edna Adan at the Daily Beast. Read Full Article at The Daily Beast “The biggest gift I want to leave behind is not a building, but the skills I leave with the women. I want to train 1,000 midwives.” Her progress so far is astounding. Since the hospital opened, they have delivered more than 9,500 women and lost only 39....
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Birth Control in Afghanistan

Posted on Mar 4, 2010 in Hospital News, Somaliland | 0 comments Encouraging news out of Afghanistan: Some mullahs in Afghanistan are distributing condoms. Others are quoting the Quran to encourage longer breaks between births. Health experts say contraception is starting to catch on in a country with the world’s second highest maternal death rate. Afghanistan has one of the world’s highest fertility rates, averaging more than six babies per woman...
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Community Midwives trained to Save Lives

Posted on Jun 24, 2009 in Hospital News | 0 comments We have just had the graduation of the first ever Community Midwives trained in Somaliland. This is the ‘new army’ that we have trained for 18 months at our hospital to assist women living in remote areas of our country where there have never been trained midwives before. These 21 Community Midwives will undoubtedly make a difference in the very high maternal and infant mortality...
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The Terror of Motherhood in Somaliland

Posted on Sep 27, 2008 in Edna Adan, Somaliland | 0 comments Edna Adan has published a new article which summarizes the health issues facing women and infants in Somaliland. Here are a few excerpts: “My theory is that women in Somaliland die because of ignorance on their part and on the part of those assisting them. Poverty is a strong factor that prevents women from seeking help because they convince themselves that they cannot afford the cost of...
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