Saleema Rehman
{{Short description|Afghan doctor (born 1990s)}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
Saleema Rehman (born {{birth based on age as of date|29 |2021|09|29|noage=1}}) is an Afghan refugee medical doctor living in Pakistan. She is the first female Afghan Turkmen physician.
Early life and education
Rehman is of Afghan Turkmen ethnicity, and was born in {{birth based on age as of date|29 |2021|09|29|noage=1}} in a refugee camp in Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan after her parents had fled from Afghanistan in 1979 during the Soviet–Afghan War. Her great-grandfather had also been a refugee, fleeing from Turkmenistan to northern Afghanistan in 1917 during the Russian Revolution. Her birth was complicated and medical assistance was limited, so the child was not expected to survive. Her father Abdul, a day-labourer, resolved that if she survived he would help her to get an education and become a doctor.{{cite news |last1=Rehman |first1=Saleema |title=I'm the First Female Afghan Refugee Doctor in My Community. I Hope More Women Can Follow in My Footsteps. |url=https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a37899711/saleema-rehman-first-female-afghan-doctor-essay/ |access-date=1 August 2022 |work=ELLE |date=4 November 2021 |language=en-us}}
She was one of a small group of refugee girls in her class at primary school in Attock, near Islamabad, and, as a refugee, found it difficult to move on to higher education but eventually in 2009 won the single place reserved for a refugee at Rawalpindi Medical University, for her medical training. Throughout, she had to go against the norms of her culture which did not expect women to become educated or to have ambitions beyond carpet-weaving and marriage.
Career
Rehman's first post was at the Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi, where her patients included both refugees and local residents. She decided to specialise in gynaecology, and again won the only training place available for a refugee, at Holy Family. During her training the hospital became a COVID-19 response centre and she was working with women who were giving birth while suffering from Covid. After qualification she had further difficulties in getting a licence to practice, because of her refugee status, but she was finally able to open a private clinic in Attock in June 2021. The clinic offers free care for refugee women.
Rehman is the first female medical doctor from the Afghan Turkmen community.{{cite web |last1=Mehmood |first1=Arshad |title=Afghan Refugee Doctor Serves Pakistan's Poorest |url=https://themedialine.org/people/afghan-refugee-doctor-serves-pakistans-poorest/ |website=The Media Line |date=13 April 2020}}
In January 2022 she was one of the speakers at a United Nations web event launching humanitarian appeals for Afghanistan and its region, along with Martin Griffiths, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, and Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.{{cite web |title=Daily Noon Briefing Highlights: Afghanistan |url=https://www.unocha.org/story/daily-noon-briefing-highlights-afghanistan-15 |publisher=United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |access-date=1 August 2022 |language=en |date=7 January 2022}}
Recognition
She was the Asian regional winner of the UNHCR's Nansen Refugee Award for 2021.{{cite web |last1=Poirier |first1=Marie-Claude |title=Afghan refugee doctor dares women and girls to dream |url=https://www.unhcr.org/news/stories/2021/9/614c7fe04/afghan-refugee-doctor-dares-women-girls-dream.html |website=UNHCR |access-date=1 August 2022 |language=en |date=29 September 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Kumar |first1=Ruchi |title=An Afghan refugee girl grew up to be a prize-winning doc — with a little help from dad |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/10/05/1043088255/an-afghan-refugee-girl-grew-up-to-be-a-prize-winning-doc-with-a-little-help-from |access-date=1 August 2022 |work=NPR |date=5 October 2021 |language=en}}{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=Nansen Refugee Award: Meet the 2021 UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award Regional Winners |url=https://www.unhcr.org/nansen-refugee-award.html |website=UNHCR |access-date=1 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220225045222/https://www.unhcr.org/nansen-refugee-award.html |archive-date=25 February 2022 |language=en}} The award was presented in September 2021 at the Swiss Embassy in Islamabad, by the Swiss Ambassador Bénédict de Cerjat, and the Chargée d'affaires of Norway, Elin Kylvåg.{{cite news |last1= |first1= |title=Dr Saleema Rehman wins UNHCP Nansen Award |url=https://pakobserver.net/dr-saleema-rehman-wins-unhcp-nansen-award/ |access-date=1 August 2022 |work=Pakistan Observer |date=29 September 2021}}
References
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External links
- {{cite news |title=Impunzi yo mu gisekuru cya gatatu yabaye umuganga wa mbere mu bantu akomokamo |url=https://www.bbc.com/gahuza/articles/c72w3wp0q1no |access-date=1 August 2022 |work=BBC News Gahuza |date=22 June 2022 |language=rw}} Coverage on BBC News in Rwanda
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:21st-century Afghan women
Category:21st-century Afghan people
Category:Afghan women physicians
Category:Rawalpindi Medical University alumni
Category:Afghan emigrants to Pakistan