As the Edna Hospital enters its 21st year, we are reminded that what started out as a Maternity
Hospital has evolved to become a major Referral and Teaching Hospital in Somaliland. Since
2002, in addition to delivering over 31,000 babies and performing countless life-saving
surgeries, the Hospital has provided training for thousands of health professionals who now staff
public and private hospitals and mother-child health centers throughout the country.
The Edna Adan University, which was founded in 2010 and shares the campus with its namesake
Hospital, was recently ranked NUMBER ONE of the fifty institutions of higher education in
Somaliland by the National Commission for Higher Education. At the University graduation
ceremony on October 10 in Hargeisa, 319 students were awarded degrees in various fields and
specialties, including the University’s first cohort of 16 Medical Doctors (10 of them women,
with 3 at the top of the class!). You can view a video of the Graduation using the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqaQgiIMZY8. In addition to Edna’s inspiring remarks,
there are brief interviews with some of the graduates and their proud families. I had the honor of
attending the Hargeisa ceremony and accepting a plaque thanking the Friends for its twenty-plus
years of support for the Hospital. And two weeks earlier, 32 students were graduated in Berbera
with Bachelor degrees in Nursing after completing a four-year program. Many of them will be
delivering state-of-the-art health care to isolated communities in the mountainous Sahil Region
of Somaliland. Hambaliyo (Congratulations) to all in the Class of 2022!
Of course, the Edna Hospital itself remains the cornerstone of Edna’s vision. Virtually all of the
graduates receive their hands-on training in the hospital’s maternity wards, operating theaters,
outpatient clinics, and laboratories, and many of them periodically return from their posts around
the country for specialized technical training in programs such as ‘Helping Babies Breathe’. The
Friends continues its support for these training programs. In addition, because Somaliland faces
the same soaring rates of inflation as the rest of the world, our Board has committed $150,000
over the next year to ensure that the hospital staff and trainees can continue to acquire the best
diagnostic tools and medical supplies on the market. We are also have plans in 2023 to connect
volunteer mentors in Public Health programs at American universities to work with Edna’s
students and staff in analyzing and publishing data which the Hospital has been assembling over
the years, with the aim of building the Hospital’s capacity as a center for research on maternal
and infant care.
Your donations have proven invaluable in the continuing evolution of the Hospital’s mission.
We thank you for being part of Edna’s family throughout the world, and we look forward to your
continuing support as we extend our very best wishes for the holiday season and the New Year.
Dr. Lee Cassanelli, President of the Friends of Edna’s Maternity Hospital