Maternal & Child HealthReaching the Unreached

Anita K. M. ZaidiProfessor and Chair of Pediatrics and Child Health

Aga Khan UniversityAn International University

Women’s Advancement Maternal and Child Health Early Childhood Development Problem-Based Research Quality Education

• Aga Khan University Hospitals

• School of Nursing and Midwifery

• Medical College

• Institute for Educational Development

• Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations

• Aga Khan University Examination Board

• Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Aga Khan UniversityFocus on Health & Education, Extending to Arts & Sciences

Part of a Development Network:Aga Khan Development Network

• Working in 30 countries

• 80,000 employees

• Focusing on health, education, culture, rural and economic development

• Creating leaders and local capacity

Dedicated to improving living conditions and opportunities for the poor, without regard to faith, origin or gender

Maternal Mortality Ratio

Source: IHME (Lancet 2011)

Under 5 Child Mortality Ratio

Maternal & Child Survival Status, 2011

Maternal & Child Health- A Major Focus at AKU

“First, the University will build on its strengths in maternal and child health. Its research into problems which strike the most vulnerable of God’s people, is carrying it toward the goal I have as Chancellor: that the Aga Khan University should be one of the world resources in health problems of mothers and children, and that its work on these problems will be on the frontiers of knowledge.”

His Highness the Aga Khan AKU Convocation 1989

Reaching the Unreached

Addressing Key Challenges

in Maternal and

Child Health

Critical Shortages in 57 Countries

Nurses & Midwives Play a Critical Role

AKU’s Innovative Hala Project with Government Lady Health Workers

Training Lady Health Workers reduced perinatal mortality by 20% in rural Sindh, Pakistan

A new study suggests that “lady health workers,” as Pakistan calls them — women trained as part of a government program to give care to poor people in rural areas — can make a difference in saving the lives of newborns.

Researchers from Aga Khan University in Karachi followed almost 50,000 households in two health districts for two years. The areas where the women were assigned to work had 21 percent stillbirths and 15 percent fewer newborn deaths than in other areas. That success was achieved even though the health workers generally had only 10th-grade education and one extra week of training for the project.

Pakistan: Short Training for Women Workers Goes Far in Saving Newborns’ Lives

January 24, 2011

Simple Technologies Can Save Lives

Application of chlorhexidine, provided in clean delivery kits, reduced newborn deaths by 40 per cent in the poorest district of Sindh

(Source: Lancet 2012)

Centre of Excellence - Women & Child Health -

Mission

To provide a platform for improving maternal and child health by a sustained focus on human capacity development, clinical services and research

that serve the needs of women and children in developing Asian and African countries

What We Aim To Do

• Training health care professionals to provide leadership at all levels of the health care system

• Utilizing appropriate models for clinical care and planning for national, regional and global policy in maternal and child health

• Conducting cutting edge research to promote effective interventions as well as probing the frontiers of knowledge

Rotary International & Aga Khan University:A Strategic Partnership

• Training nurse educators– Rotarian-led Vocational

Training Teams• Scholarships and mentorship for

nursing and midwifery students• Partnering to improve the

quality of life of mothers and children

Focus on Maternal & Child Health in East Africa

Nigerian Vocational Training Team District 9110

Kampala, Uganda March 1, 2012

Rotary Scholars at Aga Khan University

Nigerian Vocational Training Team from District 9110Kampala, Uganda

March 1, 2012

“I hope to improve maternal and child health in my community by being a role model to the community members, health educators, and mothers. Providing proper maternal care, delivery and post natal care, lobbying for maternal health issues from the district. Ensuring that every child before one year is immunized….”

- Awor Josephine2012 Rotary Scholar

Kampala, Uganda

2012 Kenyan Rotary Scholars, Nairobi, Kenya

• Funding life-saving cardiac surgery for children of families who cannot afford expensive surgery for congenital heart defects

• Financial support committed for 2012 by the Rotary Humanitarian Trust, Pakistan Chapter for surgery for 20 children at the state-of-the-art Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi

Rotary Humanitarian Trust &AKU in Pakistan

Rotary International & Aga Khan UniversityWorking Together

Visit AKU at Booth 407

Help Us Reach the Unreached Improve the Lives of Mothers and Their Children

Anita K. M. ZaidiProfessor and Chair of Paediatrics

and Child Health