Community-based Initiatives Improve Healthcare in East Africa

By David Hintch, Senior Health Program Officer for Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A. As the new health program officer for the Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A. (AKF USA), I recently traveled to Kenya and Tanzania. There I became acquainted with the dedicated people who drive the health initiatives of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in East Africa. AKDN supports a […]

Let’s Be the Change We Want to See: Child Survival Call to Action

Every year 7.6 million children worldwide die before their fifth birthday from easily preventable causes.  Half of these deaths occur in five countries: India, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, and Ethiopia. Pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria are the top killers, among others.  Think about it: 7.6 million children, nearly the number of people living […]

In Pakistan, Community Savings Groups Save Lives

During my recent trip to Chitral (the northernmost District of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province) I met Aisha, who showed me how women are using community based savings groups to access skilled health care. This particular model for community-led group savings – also known as Village Savings and Loan Associations — is an innovation in this […]

Zainab delivers more than babies to her Pakistani community

I spent most of September in Pakistan, facilitating the midterm evaluation of our Chitral Child Survival Program. The first half of the project focused, primarily, on recruiting and training a group of 30 women to become community midwives. They were recently deployed into their home communities in July of this year, so this field visit […]

Simple Interventions & Better Lives in Kenya

Part of our Summer Travel Blog series! “We often struggle to explain international development to different audiences thinking it is overly complex but the reality is that seemingly simple interventions make the biggest difference in people’s lives. We see everywhere that  access to education, training and new opportunities creates the most broad and lasting change.” […]

Healthier Moms and Babies in Pakistan

In the places where our Foundation operates, women and children are often the most vulnerable. In Pakistan 16,500 women die during pregnancy or delivery each year. Most of these deaths occur in rural areas and in the absence of skilled birth attendants. In Chitral, a remote and isolated district in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the situation […]

Urban Renewal in India

Located in the heart of New Delhi, the Nizamuddin Basti heritage project combines conservation with a major socio-economic effort that is implemented through a community-centered, collaborative approach. This project in Hazarat Nizamuddin Basti, Sunder Nursery and the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Humayun’s Tomb protects these monuments and rehabilitates open spaces in the Basti to restore […]