LAHORE: A student of University of Health Sciences (UHS) has represented Pakistan at United National General Assembly as part of the United States “Let-Girls-Learn Ambassador”. Summyka Qadir, a first year MBBS student of Nishtar Medical College, Multan, comes from an impoverished single-parent household. Despite financial hardships, she was accepted into one of top medical colleges of Pakistan on the basis of her merit and granted a full scholarship from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for her studies. She has aspirations to become a good doctor to help others in need. Summyka was one of the two students selected by Higher Education Commission and USAID to visit USA last month (Sep 19-24) and speak at a special session of UN General Assembly under the US “Let-Girls-Learn (LGL)” initiative. The mandate of this programme was to advocate for global girls’ education. Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Summyka said, “To me, girls, education is very important. The girls deserve the education as much as boys.” During the visit, Summyka was invited to meet the First Lady Michelle Obama on September 20, where the latter hosted an event “Broadway Shines a Light on Girls Education” to support girls’ education. UHS Registrar Dr Asad Zaheer said that the representation of Summyka in UN General Assembly has ascertained this message to all the nations of the world that Pakistan cultivates harmony, equality and peace. “She has made us proud. The opportunity of speaking at the UN General Assembly was given only to four girls around the world and Summyka was one of them,” Dr Asad said, adding that UHS would continue to promote and help deserving students on the basis of their merit.