Samira Merai | |
---|---|
Minister of Public Health | |
In office 27 August 2016 – 12 September 2017 | |
Prime Minister | Youssef Chahed |
Preceded by | Said Aidi |
Succeeded by | Slim Chaker |
Minister of Women, Family and Children | |
In office 2 February 2015 – 27 August 2016 | |
Prime Minister | Habib Essid |
Preceded by | Saber Bouatay |
Succeeded by | Néziha Labidi |
Personal details | |
Born | (1963-01-10) 10 January 1963 (age 61) Zarzis, Tunisia |
Political party | Afek Tounes (2011–2012) Republican Party (2012–2013) Afek Tounes (since 2013) |
Samira Merai Friaa (born 10 January 1963) is a Tunisian doctor and politician who served as Minister of Public Health from 2016 to 2017.
Early life and education
Merai was born on 10 January 1963 in Zarzis. She attended the technical high school in Medenine and obtained a degree in mathematics and science in 1981. She graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in Tunis in 1986, specialising in pulmonology.
Career
Merai began working at the Abderrahmen-Mami Hospital in Aryanah in 1993. In 2003, she was appointed Associate Professor of Respirology at the Faculty of Medicine in Tunis. She is a member of the European Respiratory Society and the American Thoracic Society.
Merai is a member of the Afek Tounes party and joined its central committee in May 2011. She was elected to the Constituent Assembly for the constituency of Medenine on 23 October 2011. On 1 February 2012, she was elected Deputy Speaker of the NCA. After the dissolution of Afek Tounes, she became a member of the Republican Party, but resigned on 10 July 2013. She was not re-elected at the 2014 legislative elections.
Merai served as the Chair of the Committee on Women's Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean in 2014.
On 2 February 2015, Merai was appointed Minister of Women, Family and Children in the government of Prime Minister Habib Essid. On 20 August 2016, she was appointed Minister of Public Health in the cabinet of Youssef Chahed.
Personal life
Merai is married and has three children.
References
- ^ "DOSSIERSBiographie de Samira Merai Friâa, ministre de la Santé publique". Business News (in French). 20 August 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
- ^ "Gouvernement Youssef Chahed: Qui est Samira Merai, ministre de la Santé?". Direct Info. 21 August 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
- ^ "Tunisian minister says more pro-women reform needed". The Arab Weekly. 21 August 2015. Archived from the original on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
- "Tunisie-Politique : La députée Samira Merai Friaa quitte le parti Al-Joumhouri". Kapitalis. 11 July 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
- Merai=Friaa, Samira (18 August 2014). "Dear Members of the Committee on Women's Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean (PA-UfM)" (PDF). PAUfM. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
- Achouri, Marouen (4 February 2015). "Ennahda joins new government lineup". Al Monitor. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
- "Samira Merai says "optimistic" about future of Chinese-Tunisian health co-operation". Agence Tunis Afrique Presse. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
- "Tunisia PM-designate presents unity govt line-up". The Daily Star Lebanon. 20 August 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
- Briki, Raouia (31 August 2016). "Notes on Tunisia's New National Unity Government". Project on Middle East Democracy. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
- Living people
- 1963 births
- Tunis El Manar University alumni
- Members of the Constituent Assembly of Tunisia
- Afek Tounes politicians
- Health ministers of Tunisia
- Women government ministers of Tunisia
- Public health ministers
- Women's ministers of Tunisia
- People from Zarzis
- Tunisian pulmonologists
- Tunisian women physicians
- 21st-century Tunisian physicians
- 21st-century Tunisian women politicians
- 21st-century Tunisian politicians