In Tajikistan, the Aga Khan Foundation began activities in 1993, when it mounted a humanitarian response to acute food shortages in Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast following the collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequent civil war. Today it implements high-quality interventions to improve the quality of life in 36 districts of all four regions in the country – GBAO, Khatlon, Districts of Republican Subordination (Rasht Valley) and Sughd – benefiting 1.9 million people.