Breaking barriers and shattering ceilings for Yemeni Women Dr. Dhekra Annuzaili is model for Yemeni success
Dr. Dhekra Amin Annuzaili is one of the few Yemeni women who were able to break barriers; shattering ceilings and embarking on tough journeys to make her own success in the field of medicine, public health, and nutrition.
The Yemeni American News
Annuzaili received an international recognition by winning the Excellence Award for Women in Geneva last year; for her efforts in combating neglected tropical diseases as well as receiving an international award from Oman in 2007 for her role in combating anemia among women and children in Yemeni through fortifying wheat flour with iron and folic acid.
The Yemeni American News sheds light on Dr. Annuzaili life experiences as a Yemeni female medical doctor who is always challenging the status quo to establish a role for her and Yemeni women.
Dr. Annuzaili wasn’t planning on majoring in medicine but in fact, she was thinking to major in Computer Science Engineering after finishing high school in the coastal city of Al-Hodeidah (West Yemen). She says, “My late father promised me and my older sister that he would send us to the U.S. to study but he changed his mind after worrying about us, and we had no choice but to enroll in Sana’a University. Since Computer Science was not a major then in college, I enrolled in the faculty of medicine and successfully attained my medical degree.”
UK
Dr. Annuzaili says that she then had one of her dreams come to light as she was able to travel abroad to the United Kingdom to continue studying medicine. “I studied to be a pediatrician in Yemen, and in four years, I received a scholarship from the British Council to study there specializing in Neonatal Medicine at the Imperial College in London. I was offered to work in the same hospital where I was doing my residency. I also had the foreign equivalency exam (PLAP TEST) waived in order to attain the full-time position. Some family urgent matter occurred in Yemen and I had to leave the hospital and return to Yemen.
Public Health
Dr. Annuzaili returned to Sanaa and worked at various clinics; where she ended working at Al- Sabeen Hospital heading the New-borns’ Department for two years. She said “I worked my best to get the hospital to adopt the ‘newer model’ but I was attacked by some corrupt leaders which made me resign after receiving threats. I stayed working in my private clinic and refused to work for private hospitals.”
Dr. Annuzaili began working with international organizations in a new specialty (public health) and was thus starting an important stage in her career. She tells the Yemeni American News, “the opportunity came when I applied for a UNICEF – nutrition post as I was one of the health activists promoting breastfeeding while I was in the hospital. I got the job, although I was planning to travel abroad for Ph.D. studies. I learned that my fate is to serve my homeland. I knew that public health wasn’t a simple field and I loved this specialty knowing that Yemen direly needs it. Preventing the disease before it happens is much better than trying to cure patients. Afterward, I received an offer to work for the World Bank; and there, I specialized in the field of preventive medicine in Sweden, and began working in various areas of public health, including neglected tropical diseases.”
As Dr. Annuzaili points out, what happened to her was not planned, but was the result of her passion for work and the love of giving back. She says “I traveled a lot and received attractive offers, including a job in Sweden as a specialist pediatrician. But I felt that public health work and prevention were closer to my personality and style than being a clinical medical doctor stuck to routine hospital work. I did not agree and returned to Yemen to be in charge of tropical health programs, but through the Imperial College in London.”
Dr. Annuzaili went through various experiences, studying several specialties, working in different stations, and establishing special relationships in the area of child health which opened the door to many opportunities. She adds, “studying medicine first, then specialized in the field of children and newborn’s, and then studied for various disciplines outside medicine, such as the study of early childhood development; a specialization in kindergartens, and how to provide psychological and educational support to young children in pre-school and youth stages.”
“This diversity of study and specialty helped me formulate my perceptions in the field of childhood, which has opened many doors for me to work with the international organizations, where I was working alongside the establishment of the early childhood development programs. I was also called upon to help in the coordination of relief and emergency programs during the war in Sa’ada in 2004” says Dr. Annuzaili
During her studies in other disciplines in Yemen, London, Canada, and Sweden, she was working with a number of organizations as public health nutritionist and food security consultant for the US Agency for Development in Yemen, then for the World Food Program in Tajikistan, and a health consultant in the field of tropical diseases in the World Health Organization in Sudan and Egypt. in addition to her current job at the Imperial College London/UK.
Dr. Annuzaili recalls her success and attributes it to many factors starting with family. She says “I do not forget my parents, who had a great impact on my success. We were three sisters without brothers, but the encouragement from the parents had the effect of overcoming the challenges that we have faced from the distant and near society to dissuade us from studying and working, especially me, because I am the only one who has managed to resist and work and continue despite the continuing social challenges. All this has not deterred me from continuing to serve my community, my family and -myself. I suffered a lot and failed sometimes, but without realizing I became stronger than I was before”.
