From One Encounter to a National Vision

The Encounter That Changed Everything

The story began during an ordinary journey to a night-shift duty. The Founder, a medical doctor, was travelling in a public minibus when a young boy boarded at Sey Biyano Junction. After exchanging greetings, they fell into conversation.

The Founder noticed gauze covering a central venous catheter in the boy's neck and asked him about it. The boy explained that it was for dialysis — he was living with diabetes.

The conversation soon revealed a deeper and more painful reality. The boy had lost both his parents and was living with his uncle in an internally displaced persons' community around Mogadishu. His uncle struggled financially to cover the cost of dialysis, and because of that hardship, the boy sometimes missed his sessions altogether.

For the Founder, this was no longer simply a conversation between a doctor and a patient — it was a human story of vulnerability, loss, poverty, chronic illness, and limited access to essential healthcare. It stayed in the Founder's mind long after the ride ended.

That question became the seed of SDF.

From One Patient to a National Problem

The young boy represented more than an individual tragedy. His situation reflected a much broader challenge facing people living with diabetes across Somalia: limited awareness, inadequate access to healthcare, financial barriers, delayed diagnosis, insufficient patient education, and a constant risk of preventable complications.

The Founder came to recognize a hard truth — diabetes care cannot be limited to treating patients only after complications have already developed. It must begin much earlier, with prevention, awareness, early detection, health education, appropriate treatment, regular follow-up, patient support, and complication prevention working together.

The boy's experience with dialysis was especially telling, since kidney failure is one of the most serious complications diabetes can cause. The Founder believed that stronger education, earlier detection, proper management, and continuous follow-up could prevent or delay many such complications and meaningfully improve patients' lives.

The problem, in other words, was bigger than one boy — and the response needed to be bigger than one patient.

The Birth of the Idea

On 20 August 2024, the idea of what would become the Somali Diabetes Foundation was born, out of a simple but powerful conviction:

The Founder envisioned an organization that would bring diabetes prevention and care closer to communities while building greater public understanding of the disease and its complications. The vision was never limited to clinical treatment alone.

• Diabetes awareness and health education
• Prevention and risk reduction
• Early detection and screening
• Patient education and support
• Improved access to diabetes care
• Prevention and management of complications
• Professional education and capacity building
• Advocacy for people living with diabetes
• Community engagement
• Research and evidence generation
• Partnerships and collaboration

The idea was simple in its origin but ambitious in its purpose: to build an organization capable of contributing to a stronger diabetes response in Somalia.

From an Idea to an Organization

After the idea was born, the Founder began the harder work of turning a vision into an organization.

Fundamental questions needed answers: What should the organization stand for? What should its mission be? Who should it serve? What should its priorities be? And how could it make a meaningful difference with very limited resources?

The Founder recognized that diabetes demands a comprehensive response — one involving not only doctors and healthcare facilities, but also patients, families, communities, government institutions, civil society, universities, development partners, and international organizations.

The organization was named the Somali Diabetes Foundation (SDF), a name built on two commitments:

• “Somali” — a commitment to the needs of the Somali people and to Somalia's national health system.
• “Diabetes Foundation” — a clear, dedicated focus on diabetes prevention, awareness, care, advocacy, education, research, and support.

SDF was envisioned not simply as another organization, but as a platform through which different stakeholders could work together to improve diabetes outcomes across the country.

Official Founding

The Somali Diabetes Foundation was officially founded on 20 November 2024 — the date the idea born on 20 August became an organization with a formal identity and a commitment to serve.

SDF did not begin with abundant resources. It began with determination.

The first major task was to legally register the organization so it could operate and implement meaningful projects. Even this first step was a significant financial challenge: registration required more than US$570, a considerable burden for a newly established organization with very limited resources.

The Founder and early members were determined to move forward anyway. The decision was not to wait until everything was available — it was to begin with what was available.

Building SDF From the Ground Up

The early days of SDF were defined by sacrifice, volunteerism, determination, and belief in the mission. There was no significant institutional funding at the start; the Founder and members contributed what they could to establish the organization and begin its work.

This period involved building SDF's organizational identity, establishing its direction, seeking collaborators, raising awareness of its mission, and identifying practical ways to reach the people who needed it most.

From the beginning, SDF understood that vulnerable communities had to be a priority — which led to one of its earliest areas of intervention: internally displaced communities around Mogadishu.

Early members personally funded the costs of project implementation, educational posters, and screening materials. This was the beginning of SDF's community-based approach.

The First Community Diabetes Awareness Activities

SDF's first awareness activities focused on vulnerable communities. The objective was straightforward: to give people knowledge about diabetes — its risk factors, its complications, prevention, and the importance of early detection and appropriate management.

For many community members, diabetes was poorly understood or clouded by misinformation. Rather than waiting for people to reach a healthcare facility, SDF brought health education directly to where people lived — combining awareness and screening so community members could both learn about diabetes and understand their own health status.

2025 — Expanding the Mission

Through 2025, SDF continued translating its mission into practical activity, expanding its work across:

• Diabetes awareness and public health education
• Community outreach
• Diabetes screening and early detection
• Prevention
• Patient education
• Advocacy
• Professional and community engagement
• Partnerships and collaboration
• Public diabetes campaigns and events

SDF increasingly worked to connect communities with health professionals and institutions. One important milestone was the Foundation's participation in the Mogadishu Global Diabetes Walk, linking Somalia's diabetes-awareness movement to a broader international initiative.

For SDF, activities like these were never just events — they were opportunities to make diabetes visible in public life, encourage prevention and early detection, challenge misinformation, and remind people living with diabetes that they are not alone.

Developing Partnerships and Strengthening Diabetes Care

As SDF grew, it began forming partnerships to strengthen the practical delivery of diabetes services.

A significant one was established with Dr. Sumaid and Kaamil Specialist Hospital, through which SDF began preparing to establish an SDF Diabetes Clinic at Kaamil Specialist Hospital, designed to directly serve people living with diabetes.

This marked an important evolution: SDF's work was moving beyond awareness alone toward building practical pathways for people to access diabetes-focused services.

The Foundation also expanded its engagement with educational institutions and healthcare professionals, including a training program at Hayat Medical University, contributing to professional and institutional engagement around diabetes.

These partnerships reflect a core part of SDF's strategy: lasting improvements in diabetes care require collaboration — no single organization can address the diabetes challenge alone.

From a Young Foundation Toward a National Platform

By 2026, SDF had continued developing from a newly established organization into an increasingly visible platform for diabetes awareness, prevention, advocacy, education, and community engagement.

The Foundation's journey has been one of gradual growth rather than abundant resources — driven by the commitment of its leadership and members, its community engagement, its partnerships, and its participation in public-health initiatives and diabetes-related campaigns.

SDF continues to pursue an important connection: linking community needs with professional knowledge and institutional action. The journey that began with one young boy on a public minibus has continued to evolve into a broader national effort.

The Founder's Leadership

The Founder and CEO has been central to SDF's establishment and development from its earliest days. The Foundation was created without significant initial resources — the Founder chose to begin anyway, building the organization from the ground up, often through personal commitment and contributions from its members.

This experience shaped SDF's leadership philosophy, grounded in:

• Service
• Compassion
• Persistence
• Professionalism
• Community responsibility
• Partnership
• Impact

The Founder's background as a medical doctor also shaped how the organization understands diabetes itself: effective healthcare cannot wait until complications appear. Prevention, education, early detection, continuous management, and patient support all matter equally.

The Meaning of SDF

For the Founder, SDF represents more than an organization. It represents a response to a problem witnessed firsthand — the belief that a young person should not have to face the devastating consequences of diabetes without adequate knowledge, care, and support.

It represents a commitment to people living with diabetes who might otherwise remain invisible, and a belief that Somalia can build a stronger, more coordinated, and more compassionate response to this disease.

The Foundation's purpose is therefore both medical and human. It is about disease prevention and treatment — but just as much, it is about dignity, knowledge, opportunity, advocacy, and hope.

Toward an Internationally Recognized Institution

SDF's long-term vision extends well beyond its early activities. The Foundation aspires to become a leading institution for diabetes prevention, education, advocacy, research, and care in Somalia, while building meaningful connections with regional and international diabetes organizations.

SDF envisions a Somalia where:

• Diabetes awareness reaches every community.
• People at risk can access prevention and early screening.
• Diabetes is diagnosed earlier.
• People living with diabetes can access continuous and appropriate care.
• Children and young people living with diabetes receive the support they need.
• Families understand diabetes and its complications.
• Healthcare professionals receive continuing education and training.
• Diabetes research in Somalia contributes to evidence-based policies and practices.
• People living with diabetes have a stronger voice in decisions affecting their health.
• Government, healthcare institutions, universities, civil society, communities, and international partners work together.
• Somalia contributes meaningfully to the global fight against diabetes.

SDF ultimately seeks to contribute to a health system in which diabetes is detected earlier, managed better, complications are prevented wherever possible, and no person is left behind because of a lack of awareness, access, or support.