Tag: AKU

Karachi, March 25, 2022 (PPI-OT):The World Health Organization (WHO) has opened a collaborating centre on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) at the Aga Khan University Medical College’s Department of Community Health Sciences (CHS). This is the first such centre specific to SRHR in Pakistan and the fourth in general in the country.

The partnership incorporates AKU into a network of over 800 WHO collaborating centres in over 80 member states working with the global health body on areas such as nursing, occupational health, communicable diseases, nutrition, mental health, chronic diseases and health technologies.

Dr Sarah Saleem, a professor of population and reproductive health at AKU, will lead the centre and provide strategic support in implementing WHO’s mandated work and programme objectives, and develop and strengthen institutional capacity in the 22 countries and territories within the EMRO (Eastern Mediterranean) region.

She is also the principal investigator for the Eastern Mediterranean hub for research capacity strengthening, based within AKU’s CHS Department, which was initiated in 2019 and has trained over 200 participants in sexual and reproductive health research, including gender-based violence.

“This enables so many people to take their first steps towards quality research, policy and development in SRHR. We are contributing to a cause, a country and a region,” said Dr Saleem. The collaboration aims to provide technical input and expertise on WHO’s repository of SRHR evidence, guidelines and training resources; to assist WHO in building national and regional capacity on sexual and reproductive health through training on SRHR; and to support WHO in conducting collaborative research, under WHO’s leadership, on SRHR at the regional level.

The team is in the process of forming a virtual network of institutions within EMRO to discuss their needs and share knowledge. The team is already developing an open-access SRHR repository housed within the AKU library. This project is led by Dr Peter Gatiti, AKU Associate Vice Provost and University Librarian, and it will serve as a region-specific one-stop rich resource for scientists, researchers and policymakers. WHO collaborating centres are institutions such as research institutes, parts of universities or academies, designated by the director-general to carry out activities in support of the organization’s programmes.

WHO gains access to top centres worldwide and the institutional capacity to ensure the scientific validity of global health work. Conversely, designation as a WHO collaborating centre provides institutions with enhanced visibility and recognition by national authorities, calling public attention to the health issues on which they work. Dr Farina Abrejo, a senior instructor, is the co-principal investigator at the centre. AKU’s School of Nursing and Midwifery is also working with the centre, represented by Dr Saleema Gulzar.

For more information, contact:
Media Executive
Department of Public Affairs
Aga Khan University (AKU)
Stadium Road, Karachi
Tel: +92-21-34930051
Fax: +92-21-34934294, +92-21-34932095
Cell: +92-301-8258028
Email: rasool.sarang@aku.edu, public.affairs@aku.edu​
Website: www.aku.edu

Karachi, March 24, 2022 (PPI-OT):The Aga Khan University has won the inaugural edition of the Award of Excellence for Disruptive Education, of the prestigious and competitive Zairi International Award in Higher Education 2022. AKU received the award based on the work of the University’s Network of Quality, Teaching and Learning, QTL_net, which supports excellence in academic programmes to ensure students have a strong learning experience during their academic years.

AKU was selected from amongst applications received from 31 countries with winners announced at a ceremony at the MENA Higher Education Leadership Forum in Dubai, UAE.​ The Award of Excellence for Disruptive Education considers innovative higher education institutions that stand out in their approach to shaping and re-imagining the future of higher education to meet the challenges of the future.

Announced by Dr. Peter J. Wells, Chief, Higher Education at UNESCO, the award was received by AKU’s Professor Tashmin Khamis, Vice Provost, Quality, Teaching and Learning and Ms. Azra Naseem, Director, Blended and Digital Learning.

“Whilst AKU is a University of and for the developing world’, this international award of excellence in higher education is an acknowledgement that AKU promotes global best practices in quality, teaching and learning. Educational excellence is not a choice for AKU, it is our mission!” said Prof. Khamis.

Despite AKU’s geographic spread and varied contextual needs, QTL_net has been successful in bringing faculty members from different disciplines and entities together through interdisciplinary and need-based faculty development programmes.

“The panel recognises Aga Khan University’s innovation and impact in three areas: peer-led transformation of teaching practices; professionalizing teaching and rewarding excellence; and digital disruption for transformative teaching,” said the award organizers.

The Zairi Award is international recognition of outstanding performance for higher education institutions around the world in research, digital transformation, and community engagement and to those who have successfully addressed global education challenges. The award is administered on an annual basis by the Center for Learning Innovations and Customized Knowledge Solutions.

For more information, contact:
Media Executive
Department of Public Affairs
Aga Khan University (AKU)
Stadium Road, Karachi
Tel: +92-21-34930051
Fax: +92-21-34934294, +92-21-34932095
Cell: +92-301-8258028
Email: rasool.sarang@aku.edu, public.affairs@aku.edu​
Website: www.aku.edu

Karachi, March 24, 2022 (PPI-OT):Efforts to integrate private providers for boosting routine childhood vaccination in Karachi’s low-income areas are set to receive a much-needed shot in the arm as a memorandum of understanding, signed by the Sindh Department of Health and the Aga Khan University goes into effect. The agreement entails integrating local private healthcare providers at the neighbourhood level to plug the gap in the government’s immunization infrastructure and develop sustainable community networks for increasing immunization coverage.

The project targets hot spots of immunisation refusals in eight union councils of Karachi to increase zero dose vaccination provided at birth as well as Penta-3 vaccination in under six-month children which is a marker of complete vaccination in under six-month children. Through the project, immunisation services and basic preventive care will be offered at 18 Expanded Programme of Immunization (EPI) centres set up within neighbourhood private provider clinics, NGO clinics and maternity homes.

Community members in the districts where the project is to be implemented report that private clinics located in the local neighbourhood are the mainstay for their daily illnesses but do not offer immunisation services, and while polio teams go from door to door to administer polio drops, the same facility is not available for other childhood vaccines for which families must visit government hospitals located at a considerable distance.

According to AKU’s senior lead for the project, Professor Shehla Zaidi, AKU with EPI Sindh and other government stakeholders will co-design novel action learning strategies for co-opting private providers for quality assured services including pay for performance, quality accreditation scores and positive behaviour recognition, supported digital communication and community networks. The project will build sustainable links with the Sindh Health Department’s Action Plan for Strengthening Public Private Partnerships 2021-26 and regulatory frameworks towards urban primary health centres,” she said.

Elaborating on the unique challenges of immunisation delivery in megacities, Dr Irshad Memon, head of the EPI in Sindh, asserted that immunisation rates in Karachi are far lower than in the province’s rural districts. “So far we have struggled to put in place a system to ensure that private providers report immunisation volumes, provide free services and deliver quality-assured services,” he said. “Hence this project fills a key need for technical assistance for effective private engagement for the urban poor. We need sustainable health systems – we don’t want to see super high-risk union councils in five years,” said Dr Memon. The project is being funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

For more information, contact:
Media Executive
Department of Public Affairs
Aga Khan University (AKU)
Stadium Road, Karachi
Tel: +92-21-34930051
Fax: +92-21-34934294, +92-21-34932095
Cell: +92-301-8258028
Email: rasool.sarang@aku.edu, public.affairs@aku.edu​
Website: www.aku.edu

Karachi, March 12, 2022 (PPI-OT):The connection that every aspect of life has with mathematics is often ignored. To highlight this connection, Aga Khan University’s Institute of Educational Development (AKU-IED) in Pakistan held a two-day conference titled ‘Mathematics Unites: Connecting, Disciplines, Cultures, and Communities’.

The conference featured speakers from diverse academic and cultural backgrounds, representing India, Malaysia, Nepal, Spain and Singapore. The event team was led by Drs Nusrat Fatima Rizvi and Munira Amirali, both assistant professors at AKU-IED.

In his welcome note, Professor Farid Panjwani, Dean AKU-IED said: “Mathematics is not isolated and confined to our schoolbooks. It is present in every aspect of our lives.” He added that the purpose of this conference is to see how mathematics is connected to the various other disciplines we study in school and more importantly, the connection of mathematics with multiple aspects of our lives.

Talking about the place of Metacognition in the mathematics classroom, Dr Lee Ngan Hoe, from the National Institute of Education, Singapore, stressed the need for a connection between online and offline classroom teaching with metacognitive practices. He discussed how without metacognition, connections between mathematics and various other disciplines cannot be made.

Professor José Antonio Martínez Aroza of University of Granada, Spain, discussed the beautiful connection between mathematics and architecture. He took the example of the Alhambra Palace and Fortress Complex to show how aesthetically pleasing results are achieved through various mathematical structures found in this architectural wonder.

Following a similar theme, Professor Fozia S. Kazi of the Islamic University of Science and Technology, India, surveyed the use of mathematical tools of symmetry analysis to answer questions about cultural agency in Kashmir. She discussed how patterns found on Kashmiri decorated forms including the geometric patterns found on tiles, shawls, lattices, khatamband, carpets and metalwork can be connected to mathematics.

Professor Jayasree Subramanian at the SRM University, Andhra Pradesh, India highlighted the connection between mathematics, language and the socio-economic background of learners. She challenged the idea that the language of mathematics is universal because while teaching in a classroom, one has to often explain concepts in the local language for the sake of better understanding and local language only develops within a socio-economic context.

Professor Bal Chandra Luitel of Kathmandu University, Nepal, stressed the need of shifting from conventional mathematics teaching to a programme that deals with the subject while keeping the global socio-political context in mind. Similarly, Professor Munira Ghazali of the University of Malaysia discussed the need for changing the way mathematics is taught to incorporate skill-based learning, to contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.

The talks held during these two days will eventually lead to a publication titled ‘Mathematics Unites: Insights from South and Southeast Contexts’. The publication will attempt to challenge the narrow vision of the subject which is often prevalent among students and teachers and unite mathematical ideas with culture and human societies.

For more information, contact:
Media Executive
Department of Public Affairs
Aga Khan University (AKU)
Stadium Road, Karachi
Tel: +92-21-34930051
Fax: +92-21-34934294, +92-21-34932095
Cell: +92-301-8258028
Email: rasool.sarang@aku.edu, public.affairs@aku.edu
Website: www.aku.edu

Karachi, March 10, 2022 (PPI-OT):Journalist Faith Saudi is new to media reporting on environmental issues. The second-year master’s in digital journalism student at Aga Khan University recently won a grant from the Henry Nxumalo Foundation to investigate environmental crimes in East Africa.

“I didn’t pay much attention to environmental stories because most newsrooms I worked for are more into current affairs and human-interest stories that require the least effort,” she said. “The status quo in Kenyan newsrooms is dictated by media ownership which decides what takes precedence in the news. Environmental stories are hardly given priority.”

There is also a fear that science or environmental stories are too technical and expensive to cover. But Faith is a member of DIRAJ, the Disaster Risk Reduction Association of Journalists, which trains journalists to report on climate change and disaster risk reduction. Coupled with the new grant, she has developed a confidence and interest in reporting on environmental issues.

Through her investigative reporting, Faith has found that rising water levels and variation in rainfall patterns are key environmental concerns in the region.

“These two issues have had a direct impact on livelihoods, food security and health. They are also leading to conflict, as we are witnessing in pastoral regions like Laikipia in northern Kenya, where grazing lands are becoming degraded as seasonal rains fall short. This forces communities to invade private crop lands that are also struggling due to extreme rain variations.”

Journalists have a role to educate, inform and entertain the public. Faith believes the same applies to environmental sustainability, with media playing a vital role in raising awareness amongst people.

“There is need for journalists to create a culture of producing and consuming environment stories, especially now that social media has revolutionized the industry. We need to be creative and entertaining so that the reporting is consumed by younger audiences. I look forward to the day when newsrooms will put environmental news at par with politics.”

Media across the world has seen a huge rise in female journalists. They are winning awards and crossing boundaries that were seen as male-dominated such as investigative journalism. Faith sees this as progressive but believes training in environmental reporting can change the game.

“Women of this generation are capable of working on stories around anything. However, we need more up skilling opportunities. We should not ignore the fact that women journalists in some cultures are still facing discrimination and sexism. It is important that we sensitize society that women’s impact and contributions can be felt – we are not here to be seen, but to be heard.”

And on that note, is Faith practising what she preaches?

“Of course! I don’t litter plastics. I ensure that I put my trash in a designated bin. I also love trees, an interest that I picked from my dad. Our rural home is quite forested with trees of different species. As a young girl, I would water and care for the trees my dad planted, and I still do the same to date. This has had an influence on where I live as an adult. Nature fascinates me!”

For more information, contact:
Media Executive
Department of Public Affairs
Aga Khan University (AKU)
Stadium Road, Karachi
Tel: +92-21-34930051
Fax: +92-21-34934294, +92-21-34932095
Cell: +92-301-8258028
Email: rasool.sarang@aku.edu, public.affairs@aku.edu​
Website: www.aku.edu

Karachi, March 10, 2022 (PPI-OT):​The Aga Khan University is among the first universities and one of the first health care providers in the geographies in which it operates to have net zero carbon targets that are aligned with science. This work is led by Miriam Kugele, who brings her experience from the development sector, research, and climate action to advance AKU’s ambition.

“My interest towards climate change began when I took part in an environmental service project in high school,” she said. ““That interest has not waned, if anything it has grown. No days are the same. Science is improving every day and learning is a constant. And I get to engage horizontally with many diverse teams across the university.”

Miriam’s training is in geography, with a specialization in environmental policy for her master’s degree. To her, women who want to join this field can come from any background, with strategic thinking, ability to connect different topical matters, and willingness to learn as the most important.

At AKU, Miriam provides strategic direction and support for effective design and implementation of environment and sustainability initiatives. In late 2021, AKU began phasing out single use plastic water bottles on all campuses, and in February, the first solar power project was launched in Pakistan.

“Shaping behavioural or institutional changes is never easy. Also, sustainability is new area of work for the operations of the organization, so we are investing quite some efforts to build awareness for and engagement with all stakeholders. I truly believe that our planning process, given how cross-cutting the sustainability work for AKU is, must be bottom-up and based on meaningful participation.”

“I have been very lucky to have worked in diverse institutions around the globe, to influence policy, and to support institutional learning. Here at AKU, it is wonderful to shape transformative processes in an organization that takes its sustainability seriously and that has strong guidance from the Aga Khan Development Network.”

In celebration of International Women’s Day in 2022, Miriam wants to “recognize and celebrate that the women who have inspired and influenced me, who are brilliant holistic thinkers, an essential skill to work in the sustainability field.”

She adds: “Given the scale and complexity of the transformations required towards sustainability, ideas and action from all men and women alike are needed, and new collaborations across stakeholders must be forged.”

For more information, contact:
Media Executive
Department of Public Affairs
Aga Khan University (AKU)
Stadium Road, Karachi
Tel: +92-21-34930051
Fax: +92-21-34934294, +92-21-34932095
Cell: +92-301-8258028
Email: rasool.sarang@aku.edu, public.affairs@aku.edu​
Website: www.aku.edu