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Biography
Monika Hauser (born 24 May 1959 in Thal, Switzerland) is a Swiss-born Italian physician gynecologist and humanitarian. She spent her youth in the Swiss village of Thal, Saint Gallen, in German Switzerland, before continuing her medical studies in Innsbruck, Austria.
At the conclusion of her medical studies, she spent 15 years in Cologne, Germany, and this is where she began working on behalf of female victims of violence in warzones. To this end, she travelled to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Afghanistan, Congo, Liberia and Israel, with the organisation Medica Mondiale, which she founded.
She received the Right Livelihood Award in 2008 and the North-South Prize of the Council of Europe in 2012 for her work with female victims of violence in conflict zones. She was named the 2011 European of the Year by the European editors of Reader's Digest, in recognition of her humanitarian efforts.