Aga Khan Health Services Pakistan

-Corporate Member

Introduction

AKHS is one of three agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) that support activities in the field of health, the others being the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), and the Aga Khan University (AKU). It works closely with both of these agencies on planning, training, and resource development and with the Aga Khan Education Services and the Aga Khan Planning and Building Services on the integration of health issues into specific projects.

AKHS is organised into national service companies in Afghanistan, India, Kenya, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, and Uganda. The Social Welfare Department (SWD) located within the Secretariat of the Aga Khan in France, co-ordinates the activities of the service companies through five-year plans, ten-year projections, annual budget submissions, and the provision of technical assistance. They are also linked internationally through network-wide strategies in human resource development, hospital management, nursing development, and primary health care. While strengthening its institutions and the links between them, each health service company also joins government health services and other providers in building effective national health systems.

Programmes Designed to Reach Vulnerable Groups

AKHS's community health programmes are designed to reach vulnerable groups in society, especially child-bearing women and young children, with low-cost, proven medical technologies: immunisation, systematic prenatal care, aseptic deliveries, and oral rehydration therapy for diarrhoeal disease. Experience with Public Health Centres within the Aga Khan Development Network has confirmed both the efficacy of primary health care in improving health status, and its cost-effectiveness.

In AKHS's approach to health services, primary health care and prevention are considered as steps towards improved health status that must be linked to the availability of high quality medical care. To complement its work in primary health care, AKHS offers curative services in institutions ranging from dispensaries through health centres to full-service hospitals. At each level of care, the AKHS focus is on providing services that are needed and wanted by the community and on building linkages within the system. It also aims to ensure a quality of care that significantly raises local standards. Quality control in laboratory diagnosis, appropriate documentation in medical records, regular supply of pharmaceuticals and continuing education of nurses and doctors are some of the practices that AKHS emphasises in its approach to institutional development.

Major Initiatives

AKHS's overall major initiatives currently include:

• Assisting communities to develop, manage, and sustain the health care they need.

• Providing accessible medical care in modern, efficient, and cost-effective facilities.

• Working in partnership with other agencies in the development of communities and the enhancement of their health.

• Educating physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals.
  Conducting research relevant to environments in which AKHS institutions exist.

• Contributing to the development of national and international health policy.
  Governance and management

• In each country of operation, AKHS registers a National Service Company as a not-for-profit, non-governmental agency.