When Dr Ikram Abdulrahman Ameer was a young girl, she dreamed of one day becoming a champion for change.

“Growing up, I was hurt watching the news on TV of women from the Somali community dying while giving birth. Hundreds of others would die due to lack of care. I wanted to be a voice of reason and ‘breathe’ life into them,” Dr Ameer says. “At times children would struggle for survival, with no doctor, or nurse in hospitals to attend them. I wanted to bridge the gap, and serve my people to see them live a productive and happy life,” she recalls.

Today, Dr Ikram Ameer is a trained obstetrician gynaecologist and plastic surgeon who is a role model for girls from her community.

Born in Doha, Qatar, Ameer was raised between her country of birth and Kenya, where members of her family live. She says that becoming a general doctor was not enough, she wanted to save the lives of mothers who were dying from birth complications.

After completing her O levels, she joined Kharkiv National Medical University (KhNMU) in Ukraine for her education in general medicine between 2010 and 2016.

She then specialised in Obstetrics and Gynaecology from 2016 to 2018.