AKU’s Brain & Mind Institute Impact Report 2025

The Aga Khan University Brain and Mind Institute (BMI) produced this 2025 Impact Report for its partners, funders, researchers, policymakers and communities. It reviews five years of work advancing brain and mental health across Africa and South and Central Asia. The report covers BMI’s research and innovation in healthy brain ageing, dementia, mental health and transgenerational resilience, including Africa-FINGERS, a dementia prevention trial across Kenya and Nigeria, and studies of trauma and PTSD in urban Kenya. It also documents capacity-building programmes that have reached more than 11,000 people, alongside research fellowships, community-led Living Labs and international partnerships. The report highlights policy and systems impact, including contributions to Kenya’s decriminalisation of attempted suicide and integrated mental health services in Northern Pakistan, and outlines priorities for expanding research, training, clinical services and policy engagement.