Annalena Tonelli
| Annalena Tonelli | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
2 April 1943 Forlì, Italy |
| Died | 5 October 2003 (aged 60) Borama, Somalia |
| Cause of death | Assassination |
| Nationality | Italy |
| Known for | Social Activism |
| Awards | Nansen Refugee Award |
Annalena Tonelli (2 April 1943 – 5 October 2003) was an Italian lawyer and social activist. She worked for 33 years in East Africa, where she focused on tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, campaigns for eradication of female genital mutilation, and special schools for hearing-impaired, blind and disabled children. In June 2003, Tonelli was awarded the Nansen Refugee Award, which is given annually by the UNHCR to recognize outstanding service to the cause of refugees. In October 2003, she was killed inside her hospital by two gunmen. Her murder remains unsolved.
Annalena Tonelli was born in 1943 in Forlì, Italy. She studied Law, becoming a lawyer after graduation.
After "six years of service to poor people of the suburbs, to orphan children, mentally or physically disabled or abused kids" of her own town, in 1969, the then 25-year-old Tonelli went to Africa supported by the Committee Against World Hunger of Forlì, that she had helped to start its activity.
In 1969 Tonelli moved to Kenya, where she began working as a teacher at Wajir Secondary School. After some years studied to be a nurse to and spent over a decade in the town of Wajir caring for the destitute and ill.
Already in 1976, Tonelli became responsible for a World Health Organization (WHO) pilot project for treating tuberculosis in nomadic people. Tonelli invited nomadic tuberculotic patients to camp in front of the Rehabilitation Centre for Disabled she was running with other female volunteers who joined her to serve poliomyelitic, blind, deaf-mute, and disabled people. This approach guaranteed patients' compliance in taking the therapy over the needed six-month treatment, and it was adopted by WHO as DOTS (Directly Observed Therapy Short).
Tonelli also created a deaf school in Wajir whose graduates have gone to other parts of Somali-speaking Africa to start schools. At this Wajir deaf school was born Somali Sign Language for the first time.
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