Tonelli, Annalena (1943–2003)

views updated

Tonelli, Annalena (1943–2003)

Italian humanitarian. Born April 2, 1943, in Forli, Italy; murdered Oct 5, 2003, in Borama, Somalia.

Was a lawyer; earned diplomas in tropical medicine, community medicine and TB control; devoted 33 years to helping poor Somalis; ran a 200-bed hospital in Borama, in the northwestern region known as Somaliland; worked against female circumcision and for AIDS/HIV prevention; won the Nansen Medal, the highest honor given by the UN for humanitarian efforts on behalf of refugees (April 2003); 6 months later, was shot twice in the head by an unidentified gunman when leaving her hospital for tuberculosis patients in Borama.

More From encyclopedia.com