Humaira Rezaei | The Hazara Girl Become A Successful Scientist In The UK
A Hazara girl who fled Taliban-ruled Afghanistan as a teenager has become a successful scientist in the UK and lead researcher on a team that discovered a life-saving drug.
Hamaira Rezaei and her fellow scientists have discovered a drug to treat pre-eclampsia, which can save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people every year.
According to the Guardian newspaper, the British Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has authorized this drug.
A group of scientists at the British Mirzyme pharmaceutical company believe that this drug can prevent preeclampsia if it is used from the 20th week of pregnancy onwards.
Dr. Humaira Rezaei was the main researcher of this team.
Repeating history in Afghanistan
This Hazara girl achieves such a success while in her home country, the Taliban has returned to power and girls are not allowed to continue their education, as was the case when she left Afghanistan.
Humaira Rezaei, who was born in 1372 in Jaghori district of Ghazni Province, Afghanistan, says: “During the first period of Taliban rule, I was 10 years old and because I was a girl, I was not allowed to go to school.”
She left Afghanistan at the age of thirteen to start a new life in Britain.
The first challenge on his way was teaching English. Because, according to his own words, he was never given the opportunity to have a formal education.
After graduating from school, Mrs. Rezaei entered the university and chose to study pre-eclampsia for her master’s degree.
What is preeclampsia?
Preeclampsia is one of the complications during pregnancy and globally, it affects between two and eight percent of pregnancies.
In the UK alone, thousands of women die each year from preeclampsia.
Ms. Rezaei says that the discovery of the drug for the treatment of pre-eclampsia was the result of her research work during her PhD.
A British company, Mirzyme, says it is the first company to develop this drug to protect babies and children.
The new drug, with the scientific name MZe786, should be taken once a day by women who are at risk of developing preeclampsia, starting at the 20th week of pregnancy.
Pre-eclampsia is usually diagnosed in the second half of pregnancy or soon after birth, and if it is not seen and recognized by midwives, it can lead to serious complications. Early symptoms include high blood pressure and protein in the urine.
When this drug was tested on mice, it was effective in improving maternal and fetal outcomes, lowering blood pressure, preventing major organ damage in the pregnant mother, improving fetal weight, and reducing fetal mortality.
Also, no negative side effects were observed on the mice or their offspring.
Dr. Rezaei says that there is general information about the health of pregnant mothers in Afghanistan, but there are no accurate statistics about the condition of preeclampsia in this country.
