The Aga Khan University’s Foundations for Health and Empowerment (F4HE) initiative successfully ended its five-year tenure of nationwide research and implementation projects in newborn health, and parents’ mental and physical health. F4HE is a multi-country, cross sectoral initiative, implemented in Afghanistan, India, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan, and co-funded by Global Affairs Canada and the Aga Khan Foundation Canada.
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“In our projects across Pakistan and the neighboring region, we saw how development and research inform each other,” said Dr Anjum Halai, Professor and Vice Provost for AKU in Asia and UK. “This is not research as an afterthought, it is woven into the fabric of the project on women’s empowerment, well-being, and health. Guided by the PPPP framework – Passion, Partnership, Purposeful, Publications – we advanced both knowledge creation and its dissemination.”
In Pakistan, the initiative was led by distinguished faculty from AKU in close partnership with Aga Khan Development Network, with the body of work addressing critical issues in maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health, mental heaalth, cancer, and digital health innovation in fragile and resource-limited settings particularly in Gilgit, Baltistan and Chitral (GBC).
Complementing these efforts, the project supports early childhood development (ECD) by integrating health, nutrition, and psychosocial care for children and caregivers, laying a strong foundation for lifelong well-being. Certain segments of the commissioned research also covered Afghanistan as a geographic area, contributing valuable cross-border insights into digital health systems and early childhood development.
The dissemination seminar brought together researchers and experts from a broad range of study areas to share their findings and recommendations to improve Pakistan’s health ecosystem. From high-risk pregnancies and cervical cancer screenings to digital health care access, the seminar presented critical focus areas that require collective effsorts from relevant public and private stakeholders to improve awareness and ensure better health outcomes.
“F4HE integrates gender equality, health, and civil society engagement to improve the health of mothers and their children, supporting research and innovation to inform policies and practices for equitable and inclusive health systems, particularly in underserved and remote areas.” said Dr Sajid Soofi, Professor, AKU Department of Child Health, while commenting on the conclusive seminar.