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Pakistan

Ground-breaking ceremonies held for two new Aga Khan Health Service facilities in Gilgit-Baltistan

The Aga Khan Health Service, Pakistan held the ground-breaking ceremonies for the expansion of the Aga Khan Medical Centre in Gilgit and the construction of a new Aga Khan Health Centre in Hunza. The state-of-the-art healthcare facilities promise continuity of quality health care services to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan and complement the Government’s efforts to attain the Sustainable Development Goals in health. Syed Amjad Ali Zaidi, Speaker of the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly, who was the Chief Guest at the groundbreaking of the Aga Khan Health Centre, Aliabad, acknowledged the government of Gilgit-Balitstan’s partnership with the Aga Khan Development Network for bringing medical excellence in the region. He said, “Not only will people of Hunza and its surrounding benefit from this health Centre, but it will be beneficial to the entire region of Gilgit-Baltistan.”

CEPI funds Aga Khan University-led consortium to conduct mix-and-match trial of COVID-19 vaccines in Pakistan

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the Aga Khan University (AKU) announced a new collaboration to conduct a clinical trial of heterologous – or ‘mix-and-match’ – combinations of Covid-19 vaccines in Pakistan. CEPI will provide funding for the project to an international consortium led by AKU, comprising the National Institute of Health in Pakistan (NIH), University of Oxford, the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) and Harvard Medical School. "We are delighted to begin working with Dr. Qamar of the Aga Khan University, and the National Institute of Health in CEPI’s first partnership in Pakistan, in conjunction with our established partners at IVI and the University of Oxford," said Dr. Richard Hatchett, Chief Executive Officer of CEPI. Data on mix-and-match combinations of these vaccines, which are commonly used in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), are urgently needed to contribute to the design of more flexible vaccination strategies. 

COP26: Aga Khan Agency for Habitat and World Habitat showcase how mountain communities are adapting to the climate emergency

On Monday 8 November 2021, the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat and World Habitat organised an event at COP26, featuring work that is being carried out with 800 mountain communities in northern Pakistan to help them adapt to the climate emergency and  live more safely and thrive.

 

AKDN and Expo 2020 Dubai partner to highlight critical challenges and opportunities facing humanity

Aga Khan Development Network staff from countries around the world are collaborating in Expo 2020 Dubai’s Programme for People and Planet. This partnership is founded on a shared commitment and recognition that the most pressing challenges facing humanity can best be addressed through social, economic, cultural and environmental initiatives. 

US Charge d’affaires visits Wazir Khan Mosque

During a visit to the Wazir Khan Mosque and Chowk, US Chargé d’affaires Angela P Aggeler highlighted the significance of Pakistan’s cultural heritage and the importance of joint US-Pakistan efforts to restore and maintain historic sites. “The Wazir Khan Mosque and Chowk symbolise the great cultural, historical, and religious heritage of the city of Lahore,” Chargé d’affaires Aggeler said. The US Mission in Pakistan works closely with the Aga Khan Foundation Pakistan, along with the Walled City of Lahore Authority.  Restoration work supported by the Ambassador’s Fund and the US Mission has helped return the Chowk to its original subterranean level, almost two and a half meters below ground. Also supported were restorations of the eastern façade of the Chowk, the Chowk “hujras,” historic houses, and the Well of Dina Nath.

‘Health equity, technology crucial to tackling non-communicable diseases’

Health equity and the use of technology are central to preventing epidemics of non-communicable diseases (NCD), stated Aga Khan University’s project director Dr Zainab Saeed. “The epidemic of NCD presents an extraordinary crisis for the world,” she said. Yesterday, she revealed that AKU will partner with Duke University to address the critical gap in the response to the NCD epidemic. This programme, focused on cardio-cerebrovascular diseases and their shared risk factors, was awarded a research training grant by the US National Institutes of Health for $1.2 million over five years, she said. A large part of this grant will include research training that leverages digital information technology with an opportunity to work with AKU’s research incubator CITRIC’s Health Data Science Centre. “This grant brings together research and intellectual expertise from two major institutions across the world with the shared vision of enhancing research capacity to tackle non-communicable diseases in Pakistan,” she noted.

South Asia’s Fight Against COVID-19 Gathers Momentum

When the World Health Organisation declared Covid-19 a pandemic in March 2020, the odds were heavily stacked against the developing world. Yet, despite their under-resourced healthcare systems, most South Asian countries have managed to stave off significant Covid-19 outbreaks and have implemented vaccination drives more or less successfully. Pakistan was able to put off the fourth wave of Covid-19 infections, sparked by a Delta variant outbreak. Dr. Faisal Mahmood, head of the Infectious Diseases section at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) in Karachi, said that one of the major factors behind a low spread in Pakistan was subdued mingling between communities in the urban centres and a scattered population in the rural areas.

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