Though Samira Benbarkat says that nurses and midwives play a critical role in managing patients in hospitals, communities are in grave need of bespoke outreach to ensure they are literate in prevention and risk assessment. That’s where Samira steps in, in Algeria and beyond: Samira has been critical for the project of Covid-19 literacy amongst older people, bringing her expertise, and ensuring food and drug supplies are reaching care homes for the elderly.
“While the pandemic is a health threat to every individual on earth, it is a menace to older people due to their poor immune system. The survival is even more at jeopardy for those older people who suffer chronic diseases such as diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and cardiac problems.” – Samira Benbarkat
Through her work for Aga Khan University, she has gathered teams of well-known experts in geriatric medicine, home health nursing and psychology to mobilize care for elderly people, and researches the impacts and causes of dementia.
Samira’s dedication to care goes beyond her professional life: she volunteers to organize food supplies to elderly care homes in her free time. It’s this kind of extracurricular dedication that warrants her a place on our list of the 100+ outstanding women nurses and midwives.