Edna Adan Ismail Fights for the Health of African Women

Edna Adan Ismail is renowned for her work as a nurse-midwife, but at first the job held little appeal. “Poo-poo, pee-pee, breast milk, babies screaming—midwifery was not really my first choice,” she admits. “It wasn’t even on my list of choices.” As the first Somaliland woman to receive formal nursing training in Britain, in the 1950s, she preferred the drama of surgery.

She changed course only after her physician father, who had seen two of his children die due to obstetric mishaps, asked: “But how will you handle all the pregnant women who need your help?”