Suraya Dalil
ثریا دلیل
Suraya Dalil in 2017
Personal details
CitizenshipAfghanistan
NationalityAfghan
OccupationPhysician
EthnicityUzbek

Suraya Dalil (Uzbek/Dari: ثریا دلیل), (born 1970) is an Afghan physician and politician who served as Minister of Public Health from 2010 to 2014 and has been the country's Permanent Representative to the United Nations since November 2015.

Early life and education

Dalil was born in Kabul in February 1970. Her father was a teacher and encouraged her education despite it being unusual at the time.[1] She attended the Zarghona High School and graduated from Kabul Medical University in 1991.[2][3] Her family then moved to Mazar-i-Sharif after her father was injured during the civil war.[3][1][4]

In 2004, Dalil was awarded a Presidential Scholarship to attend the Harvard School of Public Health[5] and graduated with a master's degree in public health in 2005.[2][3][4]

Career

Dalil worked with Médecins Sans Frontières providing health care to Tajik refugees in northern Afghanistan in 1992 and 1993.[2] She then worked with the International Organization for Migration providing medical assistance to Afghan refugees returning from Pakistan and Iran.[2][3][1]

Dalil began working with UNICEF in Afghanistan in 1994,[2] overseeing a large scale measles and polio immunization project.[4] When the Taliban reached Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998, she fled on foot with her family to Pakistan, where she resumed working for the UNICEF Afghanistan office which had been relocated there.[3] After the fall of the Taliban, she returned to Kabul in 2002 with her family.[3] She worked there until 2007, when UNICEF appointed her Chief of Health and Nutrition Program in Somalia, where she worked until December 2009.[2]

In January 2010, Dalil was assigned as Acting Minister of Public Health by President Hamid Karzai, and she was appointed Minister in March 2012.[2][6] She initiated various strategies to reduce child and maternal mortality rates.[7][8][9]

In November 2015, President Ashraf Ghani appointed Dalil as Permanent Representative of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the United Nations in Geneva,[6][10] the first woman in the position.[1]

At the end of 2017, Dalil was named President[11] of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (Ottawa Treaty), which bans the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of anti-personnel mines. Afghanistan is one of the countries most affected by these weapons.[12][13] Her presidency of the Convention ends at the end of 2018.[14]

Other activities

Awards and honours

In 2012, Dalil was awarded a prize by the Vaccination World Union for her achievements in implementing country-wide vaccination.[16] In 2014, she accepted a Resolve Award Special Mention from the Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health recognising Afghanistan's efforts to prioritise reproductive, maternal and child health.[17]

Selected publications

  • Dalil, Suraya (2000). "Psychosocial assessment of children exposed to war-related violence in Kabul". Violence and Health: Proceedings of a WHO Global Symposiurn: 174–1.
  • Dalil, Suraya; UNICEF (2002). Assessment of services and human resource needs for the development of the safe motherhood initiative in Afghanistan. Afghan Digital Libraries.
  • Bartlett, L.; Mawji, S.; Whitehead, S.; Crouse, C.; Dalil, S. (2005). "Where giving birth is a forecast of death: maternal mortality in four districts of Afghanistan, 1999–2002". The Lancet. 365 (9462): 864–870. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)71044-8. PMID 15752530. S2CID 581020.
  • Dalil, Suraya; et al. (2014). "Aid effectiveness in rebuilding the Afghan health system: a reflection". Global Public Health. 9.sup1 (Suppl 1): S124–S136. doi:10.1080/17441692.2014.918162. PMC 4136664. PMID 24922192.
  • Dalil, Suraya (2015). "Security for Our Shared Home". In Julio Frenk; Steven Hoffman (eds.). To Save Humanity:What Matters Most for a Healthy Future. Oxford University Press. pp. 97–98. ISBN 9780190221553.

Personal life

Dalil's native language is Uzbeki, and she also speaks Dari, Pashto, and English.[2] Her husband is also a medical doctor, and they have three children.[6][1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Chahil-Graf, Renu (24 March 2016). "Most Afghan girls don't go to school. How grit and dad got this one to the top". Le News. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "H.E. Dr Suraya DALIL". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on 15 December 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Delvigne-Jean, Thierry (27 June 2005). "Suraya Dalil: Taking the long way home". UNICEF. Archived from the original on 17 February 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 Powell, Alvin (9 June 2005). "A doctor goes home: Combating Afghanistan's maternal mortality rate". Harvard Gazette. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  5. ↑ Drexler, Madeline (2014). "The capacity of financial aid to transform millions of lives". Harvard Public Health.
  6. 1 2 3 "Amb Suraya Dalil". Geneva Center for Security Policy. Archived from the original on 17 February 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  7. ↑ Nebehay, Stephanie (18 May 2011). "Afghan health minister seeks backing for vaccines". Reuters. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  8. ↑ "The Ministry of Public Health, Malalai Hospital and UNFPA celebrate the International Day to End Obstetric Fistula". UNFPA Afghanistan. 27 May 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  9. ↑ Francome, Colin (2016). Unsafe Abortion and Women's Health: Change and Liberalization. Routledge. p. 57. ISBN 9781317004219.
  10. ↑ "Suraya Dalil Submits Credentials To UN Geneva Office". Tolo News. 3 November 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  11. ↑ "AP Mine Ban Convention: Landmine treaty at 20: gains made in mine clearance, stockpile destruction and universalization". www.apminebanconvention.org.
  12. ↑ "Mine Action – Reports – Monitor". the-monitor.org.
  13. ↑ "AP Mine Ban Convention: Afghanistan". www.apminebanconvention.org.
  14. ↑ "AP Mine Ban Convention: Seventeenth Meeting of the States Parties". www.apminebanconvention.org.
  15. ↑ Members International Gender Champions (IGC).
  16. ↑ "MoPH Gains VWU Prize". Bakhtar News. 9 December 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  17. ↑ "Afghanistan's Reproductive Health Celebrated By World Leaders". Bakhtar News. 21 May 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
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