In 2011, at the inauguration of the Heart and Cancer Centre at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi, His Highness the Aga Khan referred to the centre as "an important benchmark on the path to a happier and healthier future" because it signified another step on a long pathway of medical advancement.

That pathway can be traced back a thousand years - to the hospitals that were founded in Cairo by his ancestors, the Fatimid Imam-Caliphs of Egypt.

More recently, over half a century ago, the Aga Khan Hospital was founded in Nairobi; in 2005, it became an Aga Khan University teaching hospital.

It is part of a broad network of hospitals, clinics and health points across East Africa.

"In my view, a healthy life, for an individual or a community, means finding a way to relate the values of the past, the realities of the present, and the opportunities of the future. The built environment can play a central role in helping us to achieve that balance." His Highness the Aga Khan speaking at the Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2007 Award Presentation Ceremony, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 4 September 2007.