A pediatrician by profession, Nazira Abdula graduated from Maputo Central Hospital with complementary stages in the Hospital São João do Porto in Portugal. Abula earned a Master’s degree in Nutrition and Dietition from the University of Flinders, Australia, in 2006. She worked as a general practitioner at Medical Mavalane General Hospital from 1993 to 1997 and was involved in the program to combat malaria in the Mavalane area. During the cholera epidemic of 1997 she led the cholera infirmary of Maputo Central Hospital. She has taught at the Catholic University of Mozambique, and in the Health Sciences Institute of Maputo and Beira. Having been Deputy Minister of Health from 2010 to 2014 in the previous administration, Abdula was appointed Minister of Health in January 2015.
