Tawhida Ben Cheikh

Tunisian pioneer in women's healthcare and first female physician in North Africa

Tawhida Ben Cheikh (1909-2010) revolutionized women's rights in Tunisia by becoming the first female physician in North Africa. Born into an aristocratic family, she defied colonial-era norms by studying medicine at the University of Paris, graduating in 1936.

She founded Tunisia's first modern maternity clinic in 1937, introducing prenatal care and combating infant mortality. Her clinics became hubs for educating women about reproductive health, directly challenging taboos in conservative societies.

During the 1950s, Ben Cheikh collaborated with WHO to eradicate polio and established vaccination programs. Her 1960s campaign for birth control access predated Tunisia's landmark Family Planning Code of 1965 by a decade.