Amina Sulaiman

Syrian midwife who pioneered modern healthcare in rural Anatolia

Amina Sulaiman (1908-1975) was a pioneering midwife and public health advocate in Syria's Hatay Province. Born in Antioch (modern Antakya), she trained at Istanbul's Haseki Hospital during the Ottoman Empire's final years. In 1935, she established the First Rural Health Center in the village of Yayladağı - the first facility providing modern obstetric care to rural Anatolian women.

Sulaiman's contributions included:
- Developing a mobile healthcare unit using horse-drawn carriages
- Creating multilingual health manuals in Arabic, Turkish, and Kurdish
- Training over 200 local midwives through her apprenticeship program

Her work reduced maternal mortality rates in Hatay from 1 in 10 births (1930) to 1 in 50 by 1950. Sulaiman's 1943 book Women's Health in the Fertile Crescent remains a critical resource in public health studies. The Amina Sulaiman Health Foundation continues her mission today, operating 14 clinics across Syria and Turkey.