The first health institution built by our institutions in Pakistan was a 42-bed maternity hospital. Formerly known as the Janbai Maternity Home, it opened in Karachi in 1924. Today, while maintaining that early focus on maternal and child health, AKHS also offers services that range from primary health care to diagnostic services and curative care. We reach over 1.1 million people in rural and urban Sindh, Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral (GBC).

As the largest not-for-profit private healthcare system in Pakistan, our goal is to supplement the government's efforts in healthcare provision, especially in the areas of maternal and child health and primary health care.

Northern Pakistan Primary Health Care Programme

AKHS has been implementing the Northern Pakistan Primary Health Care Programme since 1987. Working in partnership with local communities, the government and other AKDN initiatives, like AKF’s Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, we have sought sustainable ways of financing and delivering primary health care in the high mountain valleys. This has led to a village-based approach – the designation of community health workers by the local village organisation, the training of these workers in community-based disease prevention, and the reorientation of government and private health professionals to primary health care.

We have trained over 1,000 community health workers in GBC, where we manage 56 basic health centres (BHCs), eight comprehensive health centres (CHCs) of 10 to 30 beds, and the 50-bed Gilgit Medical Centre. Four of these CHCs are run via public-private partnership (PPP) agreements with the government. These assets cover more than 700,000 people.

This health systems approach, with a traditional emphasis on maternal, neonatal and child health, is complemented by community-based models. These address the non-communicable disease burden, including mental health issues and palliative care. A digital health system is in place for three healthcare facilities: Gilgit, Booni and Garam Chashma.

In our strategic framework for GBC we aim to:

• support government health policies and plans, including the expansion of PPPs;


• support the health needs of GBC, including recalibrating and refocusing of the BHC services and strengthening of the secondary healthcare services;


• increase sustainability, including introducing and scaling up health insurance and social protection schemes; and


• implement and contribute to global standards in health and health care by working more closely with AKU and other partners in training and operations research.

Through this and related programmes, AKHS, AKF and AKU are working to promote a new orientation of health services in Pakistan towards primary health care. The three institutions are also collaborating in a drive to build health systems linking preventive and curative care efforts, as well as village health centres to the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi.

Founded in 1983, AKU educates healthcare professionals, generates knowledge pertinent to Pakistan and the developing world, and provides world-class health care at its hospitals and clinics.

At the heart of AKU is the 710-bed Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi. It was the first hospital in Pakistan to meet the rigorous accreditation standards of the US-based Joint Commission International. It operates the country’s only clinical laboratory accredited by the US-based College of American Pathologists. The Hospital is the main teaching site for AKU’s Medical College and School of Nursing and Midwifery. AKU alumni have gone on to study, teach and research at the world’s most prestigious universities and healthcare institutions, and to play leading roles in improving health in Pakistan.

Six of Pakistan’s top 10 health researchers are AKU faculty, according to an analysis by the Pakistan Council for Science and Technology.

AKU also operates four women’s and children’s hospitals with a total of more than 200 beds, as well as over 290 outreach medical centres in 120 cities across the country. The University health system treats more than 1.5 million patients annually.

AKU’s Patient Welfare Programme enables low-income patients to obtain care at AKU’s hospitals and outreach centres. To date, it has provided 5.4 million patients with reduced-cost care worth US$ 210 million.

AKF works with local governments in Pakistan to help improve access to health care to those who may not be able to otherwise afford it. These initiatives have included training community midwives to make health care geographically more accessible and introducing micro health insurance to make health care financially more accessible.

AKF supports community-led health revolving funds, which offer small, low-interest loans for health expenses such as transportation and medication. It renovates government health facilities, providing upgrades such as labour rooms, waiting areas and bathrooms. It provides training to both community and facility-based healthcare providers, covering topics such as sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health, breast and cervical cancer, mental health, nutrition and gender-based violence. These healthcare providers raise awareness and conduct screenings in communities through sessions and counselling.

Using Public-Private Partnerships to improve health services

AKDN has demonstrated the success of PPP models in managing the secondary-level health facilities of the governments in Chitral and Gilgit Baltistan, supported by the Italian, Norwegian, German and Canadian governments. With AKHS and the government sharing responsibilities, such partnerships build public-sector capacity and enhance trust amongst the communities served by these hospitals. They also complement the government’s agenda of providing equitable quality health care, by deploying and retaining trained obstetricians and nursing staff.

The Central Asia Health Systems Strengthening project, funded by Global Affairs Canada, has provided state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment, supplies, training and ehealth services to all the project facilities. The PPP model is further being strengthened by AKF in partnership with Global Affairs Canada – Foundations for Health and Empowerment programme and Sihatmand Khandaan.

Central Asia Stunting Initiative

AKF and AKDN agencies are working to reduce stunting amongst children under the age of five. We use a life-cycle approach from pregnancy to school-age children, focusing on the first thousand days. This holistic development initiative brings together healthcare providers, schools focusing on preschool learning and communities. It includes support for children’s physical, social and cognitive growth through nutrition, care and stimulation during the first five years.

The interventions improve infant and young child nutrition, prevent disease, identify and treat low-birthweight babies, and improve the nutritional status of pregnant and lactating women. To ensure sustainability and break the intergenerational cycle of undernutrition, these initiatives are linked with the agriculture and food security programmes; they create opportunities for income generation through economic inclusion programming; and they address the social determinants of poor nutrition, with a particular focus on girls’ and women’s empowerment. The initiative is also complemented by efforts to link communities to government health and nutrition programmes such as the Ehsaas Nashonuma Centres.

Read more about the Central Asia Stunting Initiative.