Suhaila Seddiqi

Suhaila Seddiqi is the minister of public health of Afghanistan. As a government minister, she is sometimes given the treatment Honorable before her name. Seddiq is one of a few female government leaders in Afghanistan, also including Habiba Sorabi, the governor of Bamyan province, and Sima Samar, head of the human rights commission. Seddiq of Tajik ethnicity, is the only woman in Afghanistan to hold the title of general, and has been in the governments of both Afghanistan's last king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, and the communist regime of the 1970s and 1980s.

Suhaila Seddiq is considered a heroine from the Taliban period by many feminists. She was one of very few women who successfully refused to wear the burka. She is quoted as saying, "When the religious police came with their canes and raised their arms to hit me, I raised mine to hit them back. Then they lowered their arms and let me go."

Following is a list of a few of the publicized activities of Suhaila Seddiq as minister:
*In April 2002, Seddiq oversaw the vaccination of about 6 million Afghan children against polio on behalf of the United Nations Children's Fund. [http://www.unicef.org/media/newsnotes/02nn12afghanistan.htm/]
*In July 2002, Seddiq met with a Chinese delegation who have agreed to fund renovation of what is promised to be Afghanistan's most modern hospital. [http://english.people.com.cn/200207/15/eng20020715_99743.shtml/]
* In November 2006, Seddiq presented a speech on AIDS in Afghanistan to Eurasianet in New York. [http://www.eurasianet.org/health.security/agenda.shtml/]

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References

Further reading

*"The Bookseller of Kabul" by Asne Seierstad