My experience of need made me even more committed to health diplomacy

Five years ago, my wife and I were blessed with our first child, Laila. Like many new parents, we were overwhelmed with joy but also completely unprepared for what lay ahead. For almost four months, we barely slept two hours straight, day or night. We thought our daughter was getting the food she needed through breastfeeding, but she wasn’t. And we had no idea. 

With no family in Ramallah (they were all in Nablus or Hebron) and COVID-19 restrictions preventing travel, we were alone. Even worse, we didn’t even know we needed help. Desperate, we rushed our daughter from one hospital to another. My wife, still recovering from surgery, endured painful nights in hospital beds while I felt completely lost. 

The problem wasn’t a medical condition, it was that our daughter wasn’t getting the right nutrition to thrive. 

That experience stayed with us. Years later, when I became the director of Rozana in Palestine, I often reflected on that difficult period. If you are a parent you’d know, you eventually forget how exhausting those early months are. 

Last week, we welcomed our second baby, Emil. But this time, things were different. Before we left the hospital, a nurse at Istishari, a major Palestinian hospital and a Rozana partner, asked us if we needed support after discharge. We said yes and the nurse immediately referred us to a Lactation Consultant who could guide us through feeding, sleeping schedule, and newborn care. 

Just a day after leaving the hospital, we met with Shereen Zahran, who generously spent two hours walking us through each step.