Never Give up on Women ’s Rights – Edna Ismail

By IPS International DeskNEW YORK, Mar 20 2020 (IPS) For Dr Edna Adan Ismail maternal health and midwifery is deeply personal. In an interview with Women Deliver Young Leader Musu Bakoto Sawo, Ismail recalls her mother’s devasting experiences which impacted on her own life’s choices. Dr. Edna Adan Ismail“As detailed in my memoir, ‘A Woman of Firsts,’ my own parents lost two of their five children because of poor maternal and child health services in my country,” the former Somaliland Foreign Minister and founder of Edna Adan Hospital says. “My mother lost one baby to a forceps delivery when a Caesarean section could have saved the foetus that had become impacted in her narrow bony pelvis.” Several years later her parents lost a second baby who was “delivered alive but was then accidentally dropped by the untrained midwife who had delivered it. The newborn fell on his head and died instantly.” Because of this tragedy, midwifery became her lifelong passion. When Ismail returned from the UK to Somaliland as the country’s first qualified nurse-midwife, she found herself faced with a myriad of problems during pregnancy and childbirth. These were due to education, poverty, unemployment and because of the damage caused by female genital mutilation (FGM). Women also did not have a political voice. These conditions led her to a lifetime of activism which led to the setting up of women’s organisations which could put pressure on the government and political par...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Active Citizens Africa Civil Society Education Featured Gender Gender Violence Global Headlines Health Human Rights Poverty & SDGs TerraViva United Nations Women's Health Women Deliver Source Type: news