Mogadishu — Renowned Somali medical doctor, philanthropist and humanitarian Dr Hawa Abdi is dead.

Dr Abdi, known by many as Mama Hawa, died in Mogadishu on Wednesday, her family announced.

“Dr Hawa [Abdi] did not have illness, but died suddenly,” her children said, without giving further details.

She turned her backyard into a health clinic targeting the internally displaced in Somalia. Dr Abdi, 73, dedicated her life to the service of the poor and needy in Somalia.

In 2012, Dr Abdi was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

She was trained in the former Soviet Union in the 1970s and opened a hospital on the western outskirts of Mogadishu in the 1980s.

Over the years, she opened several health facilities in Somalia.

In 2018, she won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Turkish government.

Read the original article on Nation.