Mogadishu, Somalia – Hope shone through hardship on a warm evening in Somalia’s capital as young health professionals gathered to celebrate the nation’s unsung medical heroes.
The sixth annual Somalia Health Awards, organised entirely by grassroots volunteers, brought together doctors, nurses, hospital staff and frontline responders who continue to serve under some of the most challenging conditions in the world.
In a city more often associated with conflict headlines, the event shifted the narrative to one of resilience.
Attendees rose to applaud surgeons who have spent years performing life-saving operations without reliable electricity, midwives who have delivered babies in makeshift clinics, and ambulance drivers who risk their lives navigating volatile streets to reach the injured.
Awards were presented across several categories, honouring exceptional hospitals, medical volunteers, emergency responders, and community health advocates.
Parents who had lost loved ones to preventable illnesses spoke of doctors who stayed by their side long after duty hours. Patients stood on stage alongside the professionals who saved them.
While Somalia’s health sector continues to battle shortages of equipment, staff and funding, the atmosphere was filled with pride rather than complaint. Many awardees spoke not of their struggles but of their commitment to stay, serve and train the next generation.
As the ceremony closed, the crowd joined in a standing ovation—not for one winner, but for an entire workforce that rarely asks for recognition. In a nation still healing, the message was unmistakable: heroes wear scrubs too.