LONDON -- Malala Yousafzai, the teenage education-rights campaigner who was shot in the head by the Taliban in Pakistan, has been able to stand for the first time since the attack and is communicating by writing, a British hospital official said Friday. 
 
 But the 14-year-old whose plight has aroused international concern is still fighting an infection caused by the bullet that entered her skull, burrowed through her jaw and lodged in her shoulder blade, said David Rosser, medical director at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, in central England. Malala was flown to the hospital this week to receive treatment. 
 
 Rosser said she continued to show signs of improvement since waking from a long anesthesia. 
 
 "One of the first things she asked the nurses was what country she was in," he told reporters, adding: "She's closer to the edge of the woods, but she's not out of the woods." 
 
 The teenager was shot in a school bus in Pakistan's Swat Valley, where she had risen to prominence by courageously advocating the right to education for girls despite the fanatical Taliban's sway over the region. The Taliban has vowed to finish her off, prompting tight security at the Birmingham hospital. 
 
 PHOTOS: Pakistani teen shot by Taliban 
 
 But far from quashing Malala's cause, the attack sparked huge rallies across Pakistan and the rest of the world on her behalf. Rosser said she was "keen to thank people" for their outpouring of support and wanted the world to be kept apprised of her condition. 
 
 He said that scans had shown some damage to her brain, which was grazed by the bullet. But encouragingly, "at this stage we're not seeing any deficit in terms of function. She seems to be able to understand; she has some memory. ... She's able to stand. She's got motor control, so she's able to write." 
 
 Malala appears to have some recall of the attack, but those around her are refraining from bringing up the topic, Rosser said. 
 
 "From a lot of the work we've done with our military casualties, we know that reminding people of traumatic events at this stage increases the potential for psychological problems later," he said. 
 
 A tube in her trachea makes it impossible for her to speak, but the hospital is trying to arrange for her to listen to her father on the phone. Her family remains in Pakistan; efforts are underway to bring them to Britain to be at her bedside. 
 
 Rosser said the girl would require a couple of weeks of recuperation before surgeons try to reconstruct the damaged part of her skull and possibly her jaw. 
 
 "It would be over-optimistic to say that there are not going to be further problems," Rosser said. "But it is possible she’ll make a full recovery." 
 
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 Photo: Women in the British city of Birmingham hold a vigil Thursday for wounded Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, who is receiving treatment at a hospital in the city. Credit: Gavin Fogg / AFP/Getty Images ||||| Media caption Malala Yousafzai: ''I want every girl, every child to be educated'' 
 
 Shot Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai has described how a fund has been set up in her name to help all children get an education. 
 
 Malala, 15, was speaking in an interview recorded before surgery at a Birmingham hospital on Saturday. 
 
 She was shot on a school bus in October in Pakistan by the Taliban after campaigning for girls' rights. 
 
 Surgeons at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital said Malala was recovering "very well" from the latest operation. 
 
 A bullet was removed from her head by surgeons in Pakistan, before she was flown to the UK for further treatment. 
 
 Malala was discharged as an inpatient from Queen Elizabeth Hospital in January and underwent a five-hour operation at the weekend to fit a titanium plate over her damaged skull. 
 
 She also had a cochlear implant fitted to deal with some deafness caused by her injuries. 
 
 Speaking in the video in English, Malala said she wanted to "serve the people". 
 
 'New life' 
 
 She said: "Today you can see that I'm alive. I can speak, I can see you, I can see everyone and today I can speak and I'm getting better day by day. 
 
 Image caption Malala has been receiving treatment in Birmingham after she was shot by the Taliban last year 
 
 "It's just because of the prayers of people, because all the people - men, women, children - all of them have prayed for me. 
 
 "Because of these prayers, God has given me this new life and this is a second life. 
 
 "I want to serve the people and I want every girl, every child, to be educated and for that reason we have organised the Malala Fund." 
 
 She also made her comments in Urdu and Pashtu. 
 
 The Taliban said it attacked the campaigner for girls' education for "promoting secularism". 
 
 The first grant from the Malala Fund will go to an organisation in the teenager's home region of the Swat Valley in Pakistan and it aims to encourage girls to go to school instead of going straight into work. 
 
 'Condition improving' 
 
 Those behind the project said it would help enrol selected girls into schools and give them the support to continue with their studies. 
 
 Media caption Consultant neurosurgeon, Anwen White: "She was very focused and enthusiastic." 
 
 It is also expected to work with families to understand the importance of education for their daughters. 
 
 The Malala Fund has been set up by international organisation Vital Voices, which says it helps give women a voice to promote prosperity and peace in their communities. 
 
 A message on the organisation's website said: "We established the Malala Fund on behalf of Malala and her family, working together with supporters of the cause, including the United Nations Foundation and Girl Up, and within a community of supportive organisations and individuals, to realise Malala's vision of education for all girls." 
 
 In a news conference on Monday, the Birmingham hospital's medical director Dr Dave Rosser said everything had gone "very well" in Saturday's operation and said the teenager's condition was continuing to improve. 
 
 He said: "She went back to the intensive care unit that evening, primarily as a precautionary measure rather than because of any major concerns and she's now back on one of the wards in the hospital and doing very well." 
 
 Consultant neurosurgeon Anwen White said she now did not expect Malala to have to undergo any further surgery. 
 
 Mrs White added that Malala remained "a very happy, very enthusiastic young woman".
– A great sign of hope for Malala Yousufzai: Doctors say that with help, she was able to stand for the first time since being shot in the head by the Taliban, reports ITV News. The Pakistani teen also is able to write, reports AP, though she still can't speak. She is being treated in Britain, and doctors hope to arrange to have her listen to a phone call from her father in Pakistan. The extent of her brain injuries still is not clear, but she is "well enough that she's agreed that she's happy, in fact keen, for us to share more clinical detail," says the medical director of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. He adds that Malala is still battling an infection from the bullet, but that she has shown steady progress since coming out of her long anesthesia, reports the Los Angeles Times. “One of the first things she asked the nurses was what country she was in,” he says. "She’s closer to the edge of the woods, but she’s not out of the woods.” Since the attack, Malala has become the face of the movement for girls' education.