Accessibility links

Breaking News

Pakistani Teen Campaigner Recovering After Surgery


Malala Yousafzai was shot in October, 2012
Malala Yousafzai was shot in October, 2012
A Pakistani teen peace activist is recovering after two successful operations in a British hospital.
A statement by Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital said that Malala Yousafzai had skull reconstruction and a cochlear implant surgery to restore her hearing on February 2.
Malala, 15, was shot in October while she was returning home from her school in Pakistan's northwestern volatile Swat region.
The hospital statement added that the two operations lasted a total of five hours and the medical team was "very pleased" with the progress she has made so far. It added that Malala was awake and talking to staff and members of her family.
Earlier on January 30, Dave Rosser, a doctor at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, gave the details of the procedure which was used to replace a missing part of her skull with a titanium plate.

"She does still have the portion of skull that was removed in Pakistan in the initial surgery implanted in her abdomen, but the surgeons, in consultation with Malala, have decided that fitting of a titanium plate is a better long-term procedure than trying to reimplant this bone after such a long period of time," Rosser said.

"So instead of replanting the bone, the bone will be removed from under the skin in her stomach and cleaned up and sterilized and given to Malala who wishes to keep it as a memory I guess."
The October 9 attack on Malala drew widespread international condemnation. She was shot in the head at point-blank range as she returned home in a school van.
She was targeted by militants for her work in promoting girls' education and writing a blog about Taliban atrocities in 2009.
Some 250,000 people have signed an online petition calling for Malala to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
She is receiving treatment at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital's specialist unit where doctors have treated hundreds of soldiers wounded in conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
With reporting by Reuters, AP, and the BBC
  • 16x9 Image

    RFE/RL

    RFE/RL journalists report the news in 27 languages in 23 countries where a free press is banned by the government or not fully established. We provide what many people cannot get locally: uncensored news, responsible discussion, and open debate.

RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.

If you are in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine and hold a Russian passport or are a stateless person residing permanently in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine, please note that you could face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on, or saving our content, or for contacting us.

To find out more, click here.

XS
SM
MD
LG