Tragedy of War: partnerships and strategies to deliver essential health care to vulnerable Yemeni children and babies

Tragedy of War: partnerships and strategies to deliver essential health care to vulnerable Yemeni children and babies’

Inspirational paediatrician, healthcare leader and LSTM alumna, Professor Najla Al-Sonboli has delivered Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s prestigious Leverhulme Lecture as part of its 125th anniversary public lecture series.

Professor Al-Sonboli, an LSTM alumna, returned to her former student city to give her first public lecture outside Yemen, where she is head of the Paediatric Department at Al-Sabeen Hospital for Maternity and Children in the city of Sana’a. For the last eight years, she has led a team to deliver essential healthcare for extremely vulnerable children and babies amid ongoing war, disease outbreaks and severe food shortages.

In recognition of this outstanding work, Professor Al-Sonboli has been recognised as a ‘Heroine for Health’ by the World Health Assembly. Delivered to an audience of more than 100 people at Liverpool’s atmospheric Victoria Gallery & Museum and also streamed online, Professor Al-Sonboli’s lecture ‘Tragedy of War: partnerships and strategies to deliver essential health care to vulnerable Yemeni children and babies’ critically explored approaches to delivering health services in challenging environments.