Maternal and children health: AKU receives $25m grant by Gates Foundation

The Aga Khan University (AKU) has received a grant of $25 million by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for maternal and children health in Pakistan.

An estimated 440,000 mothers and children under the age of five died in Pakistan in 2015, a statement said, adding the granted amount will be spent to prevent the deaths in Pakistan.

The university will focus on a variety of approaches in a bid to develop insights that can influence policy across the country and beyond.

Since the risks mothers and children face in rural areas are remarkably high, AKU researchers will concentrate on 14 rural districts in Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan, as well as urban slums in Karachi.



“Breaking the cycle of poverty starts with investing in the health of vulnerable individuals at every stage of life, particularly young women, newborns and children,” said Dr Christopher Elias, who is president of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“We are proud to support Pakistan’s efforts to improve the quality and reach of health services to reduce preventable deaths and make progress toward the country’s 2030 development goals.”

To start working in the said direction, the AKU will initiate project Umeed-e-Nau and partner with public and private sector organisations to introduce at least six large-scale projects in representative settings.



Commenting on the vulnerability of maternal health and the grant that has been given to his organisation, founding director of the AKU Centre of Excellence in Women professor Zulfiqar Bhutta said: “Globally, nearly six million children under the age five died in 2015, while 300,000 women lost their lives due to complications during pregnancy or childbirth. "This grant will allow us to expand our work in both scale and depth.”