Patience and Care: Rebuilding nursing and midwifery in Somaliland

The Africa Research Institute, a London-based think tank, has just published a report: Patience and Care: Rebuilding nursing and midwifery in Somaliland (PDF 1.8 MB) [see how to access PDF files]. Its author, Fouzia Mohamed Ismail, was a prominent member of the Somali nursing diaspora after civil war broke out in 1982, and is currently Executive Director of the Somaliland Nursing and Midwifery Association, which she and six colleagues formed on their return to Somaliland in 2004. During the regime of President Siyad Barre, hospitals and clinics were destroyed and medical personnel killed or forced to flee the country. Although the civil war ended in 1991, health services remained practically non-existent.  In a referendum in 2001, 97% of Somaliland voters approved a new constitution proclaiming Somaliland’s independence from Somalia. Able to return home at last, for Fouzia and others, the task of rebuilding the country’s health care system was a daunting one. Her report details how she and her colleagues set about rebuilding the nursing and midwifery professions, starting literally from scratch.

Visit the Africa Research Institute website.