Aga Khan University partnership takes health services to EA mothers, children

The Aga Khan University (AKU) is working with 100 government health centres in Kenya and Tanzania to enhance healthcare access to half a million mothers and children.

AKU’s vice president in charge of Finance and the Chief Finance Officer, Mr Al-Karim Haji, said the exercise will include research to identify gaps in quality healthcare access enabling formulation of policies and mitigation measures for delivery of better services.

He said research findings will be shared among policy makers, the academia and management teams thereby enabling them to work together towards achieving UN sustainable development goals which include eradication of poverty, enhancing education, promoting development and healthcare access.

“We have provided students with access to quality training, thanks to our partners Johnson and Johnson’s Corporate Citizenship Trust, the French Development Bank, Global Affairs Canada, the German Government and other supporters,” he said.

Mr Haji spoke when he addressed an inter-professional healthcare conference in Nairobi commemorating AKU’s 15-year partnership with Johnson and Johnson’s Corporate Citizenship Trust last week.

The Trust’s managing director Frank Welvaert hailed the partnership saying it had a long term impact on people’s lives across East Africa and urged for closer company working to fund programmes with far reaching impact on society.

“The challenges we face today are complex and you cannot solve them alone via your products or service, you need to partner with like-minded organisations that will share knowledge, learn from them and create a new way to solve the problems,” he said.

Dr Azim Lakhani , the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) diplomatic representative, welcomed the partnership saying supporting health training facilities in East Africa had improved the quality of life.

AKDN is a network of private, non-denominational development agencies established by His Highness the Aga Khan.

Its aim is to improve lives though investments in health, education, culture, rural development, institution-building and the promotion of economic development. 

Dr Lakhani said that AKDN emphasises inter-agency partnerships as they have great impact on society.

Mr Welvaert said the Trust had launched a professional skills sharing forum with AKDN.

Mr Haji said the Trust’s sponsorship to the Aga Khan University’s School of Nursing and Midwifery had helped them offer advanced training for 2,100 nurses in the last 15 years.

“A hundred of these former students hold senior positions in health ministries in East Africa. I applaud the partnership as it has enabled us to improve access to healthcare in East Africa,” he said.