×

News publications and other organizations are encouraged to reuse Direct Relief-published content for free under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International), given the republisher complies with the requirements identified below.

When republishing:

  • Include a byline with the reporter’s name and Direct Relief in the following format: "Author Name, Direct Relief." If attribution in that format is not possible, include the following language at the top of the story: "This story was originally published by Direct Relief."
  • If publishing online, please link to the original URL of the story.
  • Maintain any tagline at the bottom of the story.
  • With Direct Relief's permission, news publications can make changes such as localizing the content for a particular area, using a different headline, or shortening story text. To confirm edits are acceptable, please check with Direct Relief by clicking this link.
  • If new content is added to the original story — for example, a comment from a local official — a note with language to the effect of the following must be included: "Additional reporting by [reporter and organization]."
  • If republished stories are shared on social media, Direct Relief appreciates being tagged in the posts:
    • Twitter (@DirectRelief)
    • Facebook (@DirectRelief)
    • Instagram (@DirectRelief)

Republishing Images:

Unless stated otherwise, images shot by Direct Relief may be republished for non-commercial purposes with proper attribution, given the republisher complies with the requirements identified below.

  • Maintain correct caption information.
  • Credit the photographer and Direct Relief in the caption. For example: "First and Last Name / Direct Relief."
  • Do not digitally alter images.

Direct Relief often contracts with freelance photographers who usually, but not always, allow their work to be published by Direct Relief’s media partners. Contact Direct Relief for permission to use images in which Direct Relief is not credited in the caption by clicking here.

Other Requirements:

  • Do not state or imply that donations to any third-party organization support Direct Relief's work.
  • Republishers may not sell Direct Relief's content.
  • Direct Relief's work is prohibited from populating web pages designed to improve rankings on search engines or solely to gain revenue from network-based advertisements.
  • Advance permission is required to translate Direct Relief's stories into a language different from the original language of publication. To inquire, contact us here.
  • If Direct Relief requests a change to or removal of republished Direct Relief content from a site or on-air, the republisher must comply.

For any additional questions about republishing Direct Relief content, please email the team here.

Partner Spotlight: Edna Adan University Hospital, Somaliland

News

Edna Adan University Hospital

By Lindsey Pollaczek

Somaliland is a difficult place to be a woman. Childbirth in particular brings with it serious risks. Lack of access to trained health professionals; low uptake of antenatal care; high rates of malnutrition; and prevalence of female genital cutting all increase the chances that complications may occur.

While rates of maternal mortality are still some of the highest in the world, according to the Director General of the Ministry of Health, they have declined from 1,600 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1997 to 1,044 per 100,000 births in 2006. Edna Adan Ismail and her hospital in Hargeisa, the capital of the autonomous region, have contributed significantly to improving maternal health in this region.

The Edna Adan University Hospital in Hargeisa was established in 2002 as the Maternity and Teaching Hospital to provide quality medical services for women and children. The first qualified nurse-midwife in her country, Edna spent more than three decades working with the World Health Organization as an adviser on maternal and child health and served as both Minister of Social Welfare and Minister of Foreign Affairs for Somaliland.

In her retirement from the United Nations, Edna dedicated her pension and other personal assets to build the hospital to address the grave health problems that endangered the lives of women and children. The hospital has expanded to provide care for all members of the community, and as the only referral and teaching hospital in Hargeisa, serves a vital role in the training of midwives, nurses, laboratory technicians, and pharmacists. Watch a New York Times video featuring Edna Adan Ismail.

Direct Relief has supported the Edna Adan University Hospital since 2005. Donations have focused on improving the hospital’s maternal health capacity, and in November 2005 Direct Relief supplied items to upgrade the operating theater and delivery room, including an examination table, operating room light, sterilizer, instruments, general and surgical hospital supplies, pharmaceuticals, and nutritional products. Direct Relief has provided the hospital with medical material support valued at more than $1.1 million (wholesale).

In 2009, Direct Relief expanded its support to increase the hospital’s ability to provide treatment and care for women with obstetric fistula, a tragic injury sustained during obstructed childbirth that leaves a woman incontinent and ultimately shunned by her family. In collaboration with the Fistula Foundation, Direct Relief has funded the construction and equipping of three operating theaters and the development of a training curriculum for midwives and nurses in obstetric fistula management. The grant vastly increases the hospital’s capacity to treat patients and its role as a leading teaching facility in the region.

Direct Relief is committed to increasing access to obstetric fistula repair surgery. When asked about the importance of providing fistula repair Edna remarked, “I am grateful as a woman and human being to be able to help women like them. People think I have given something but they don’t know how much I am getting. There is no bank in the world big enough to hold what I get from the satisfaction of seeing a woman who was leaking urine for 30 years leave the hospital and go home dry.”

Filed Under: , , ,

Giving is Good Medicine

You don't have to donate. That's why it's so extraordinary if you do.