Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi visited Save a Child’s Heart (SACH) during his historic first visit to Israel, meeting nine young patients from Somaliland who recently arrived in the country to receive life-saving cardiac treatment at the Sylvan Adams Children’s Hospital at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon.
The delegation includes patients ranging in age from 3 months to 18 years old, with conditions including congenital heart defects and rheumatic heart disease requiring life-saving surgery and catheter-based interventions.
The children are the first group of patients identified during Save a Child’s Heart’s medical mission this month to Somaliland, conducted in partnership with the Edna Adan Hospital in Hargeisa.
The June 5-6 mission saw Save a Child’s Heart sponsor the visit of a cardiologist who screened 20 children for congenital and acquired heart conditions. Following those evaluations, nine children were selected to travel to Israel to receive life-saving cardiac care, marking the first cohort from the June mission; they are currently staying at the SACH Legacy Children’s Home, also in Holon.
Abdullahi’s visit highlighted a humanitarian partnership that has been saving the lives of Somaliland children for more than two decades, long before diplomatic relations between Israel and Somaliland entered the international spotlight.
Since 2004, Save a Child’s Heart has provided life-saving cardiac care to 49 children from Somaliland. The partnership has expanded dramatically in recent years, with 20 children receiving treatment in Israel in 2024 and another 19 children treated in 2025. Together, those two years account for nearly 80% of all Somaliland patients treated by the organization since the partnership began.
The relationship began in 2004, when a Somaliland diplomat stationed in Ethiopia sought urgent cardiac treatment for his child through Save a Child’s Heart. Through contacts at the Israeli embassy, the family was connected to SACH, and the child’s life was saved. Although the diplomat later lost his position because of the visit to Israel, he remained steadfast in his belief that saving his child’s life was worth any personal sacrifice.
“Through this friendship, we will continue to save lives,” said Simon Fisher, executive director of Save a Child’s Heart. “In 2004, I met Somaliland’s head of mission to Ethiopia. He spoke about his hope for diplomatic relations between Somaliland and Israel. At the time, it seemed very difficult to imagine. Today, the president of Somaliland is here in Israel. That is incredibly inspiring. We hope this growing relationship will help many more children receive life-saving treatment and strengthen the friendship between our peoples.”
The partnership evolved through the efforts of medical professionals and leaders in both countries.
In 2012, Dr. Matthew Jones, an American physician living in Somaliland, partnered with Dr. Omar Dihoud, former special advisor to the President of Somaliland, to help two children travel from Hargeisa to Israel for life-saving heart surgery. Following Dr. Dihoud’s passing in 2015, the partnership continued to grow.
A second phase of collaboration emerged in 2021 when Dr. Adam Lee Goldstein, Head of Trauma Surgery at Wolfson Medical Center, visited Somaliland and met young adults whose lives had been saved through SACH years earlier. The visit helped strengthen ties with the Edna Adan Hospital, founded by renowned nurse, humanitarian, former first lady and former Foreign Minister Edna Adan Ismail.
Beginning in 2024, with the support of Edna Adan’s steadfast leadership, SACH executive director Simon Fisher and Leo Vinovezky, then counselor and deputy head of mission at the embassy of Israel in Ethiopia, fully re-established and expanded the partnership, enabling significantly more children from Somaliland to access life-saving cardiac care.
The treatment is being provided at the Sylvan Adams Children’s Hospital at Wolfson Medical Center, named in recognition of the philanthropist’s longstanding support to provide life-saving cardiac care to children, regardless of nationality, religion or background. Adams has also committed to supporting the organization’s future work in Somaliland, including offering the use of his private aircraft to help facilitate upcoming medical missions.
“Healing hearts and saving lives is the ultimate form of people-to-people diplomacy. Every child treated represents hope, compassion and a bridge between communities that might otherwise never meet. As Jews,” said Adams, “we have a responsibility to pursue tikkun olam and bring light into the world.”
