Nagham Hasan, a 45-year–old Yazidi by birth, a gynecologist by profession, received the regional "Nansen Award for the Middle East and North Africa 2022".

Nagham Hasan worked at Sheikhan Hospital in Nineveh province (the center of Mosul) before ISIS invaded Shangal (Sinjar) and Mosul, but in 2014, the doctor's life changed dramatically.

"The Doctor survived the "black days" of 2014," as former US Secretary of State John Kerry said, when ISIS terrorists swept through northern Iraq and captured Yazidi women and children. During this period and after the liberation of the districts, a gynecologist worked to alleviate the physical and psychological pain of hundreds of Yazidi women, and when everyone else fled, she chose to act by going to the camps to treat survivors. Former prisoners needed treatment for illnesses and injuries sustained as a result of torture and sexual violence. As Mrs. Nagham herself tells, she saw the catastrophe that befell her people, how Yazidi women were killed, bullied, sold, insulted and raped, and much of this continues to this day.

Soon after, Dr. Nagham founded a non-governmental organization called "Hope makers organization for woman" to treat survivors, and this was while she was the director of Sheikhan General Hospital. Her organization now has 50 staff members and two clinics in Shangal that provide medical and psychosocial counseling to Yazidi girls and women released from captivity who have survived persecution or violence by extremist groups in northern Iraq. Some of those she treated even became defenders of peace and human rights themselves.

In recognition of her efforts, in 2016, the doctor was awarded the "Woman of Courage" award from the US State Department.

To date, Nagham Hasan has received the regional "Nansen Award for the Middle East and North Africa 2022", in recognition of her outstanding services and commitment to the Yazidi community, as well as the displaced population in Iraq, according to the High Commissioner for Refugees.

Currently, Dr. Hasan regularly visits IDP camps, where the majority of Yazidis live, in order to raise awareness and encourage parents to allow their daughters to visit her clinic for basic medical care and psychosocial support.

Although she had the opportunity to leave Iraq, the doctor categorically decided to stay, stating: "I am staying with my Yazidi people, I think the survivors still need my help".

The selection Committee of the Nansen Refugee Award also named four regional winners of 2022, among them former German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, "she played an important role in the formation of Germany as a reliable and active humanitarian partner, including in refugee relief operations around the world, for helping more than a million refugees survive and recover".

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