ABU DHABI // Kosovo has awarded Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak the Mother Teresa Humanitarian Medal in appreciation for her constant commitment to improving people’s living conditions across the world. Under the directives of Sheikha Fatima, chairwoman of the General Women’s union and widow of founding President Sheikh Zayed, a UAE-funded children’s hospital will be built in Pristina, capital of Kosovo.

The announcement of the children’s surgical centre at the Centre for Development of Family Medicine was made at a signing ceremony between Saeed Al Ghafli, head of the Department of Municipal Affairs and a member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, and Atifete Jahjaga, president of Kosovo.

The agreement advances the interests of Sheikha Fatima, who is president of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, to provide health care for the children of Kosovo.

The building will be named after Sheikha Fatima and will provide modern healthcare services, said Mr Al Ghafli.

Sheikha Fatima said in a statement: “I would like to laud the efforts of the president of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga, aimed at achieving the development goals.”

Ms Jahjaga said: “We also have a hospital which carries the name of the father of this country, Sheikh Zayed, opened immediately after the war in Kosovo in 1999.

“This hospital which we are about to start in our country is going to be named after Her Highness Sheikha Fatima.”

 “Sixteen years ago, we had a war where we had over 10,000 people killed and over 20,000 women suffered sexual violence,” said Ms Jahjaga.

She praised Sheikha Fatima’s role as “crucial to support the women and children in Kosovo during the time of the war, when our mothers and children were at refugee camps, particularly in Albania”.

Ms Jahjaga added that the paediatric hospital was an enormous show of support for the people of Kosovo.