Alc Pan-african Radio

In May 1991 Somaliland a country that is located in the North eastern part of Somalia seceded as a self-declared state from Somalia. However, it is yet to gain international recognition from the United Nations. Somaliland faced civil war under the Somali president Siad Barre whose aim was to unite the greater Somalia. During the war, 95 % of the infrastructure and institutions were destroyed. Many people who had previously worked as doctors were killed while the few remaining ones either emigrated to western countries or were displaced. Edna Adan Ismail, former first lady and a former senior diplomat who had worked for the World Health Organisation for 32 years and studied in London South Bank University, embarked on a journey in 1993 to construct the first maternity hospital in the capital city Hargeisa, Somaliland. Maternal and infant deaths had been a major health concern to the government of Somaliland but there was no single maternity center. According to UNICEF, at the time, close to 60 percent of wo