Edna Adan Ismail is a nurse midwife, activist, and was the first female Foreign Minister of Somaliland from 2003 to 2006. She previously served as Somaliland's Minister of Family Welfare and Social Development.

Edna Adan Maternity Hospital is a non-profit charity hospital built in Hargeisa, Somaliland. It was founded by the autonomous northwestern Somaliland region's former foreign minister and former first lady of Somalia, Edna Adan Ismail. The hospital has as its primary mission to provide better health care to people whose lives have been traumatized by war, and also to provide training for nurses, midwives, and other health workers. In addition to services and facilities relating specifically to maternal and infant health care, the hospital has diagnostic laboratory facilities and an emergency blood bank, and offers diagnosis and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases.