AKU to build a new Research Centre in Matiari

Matiari- The ground-breaking ceremony for the Aga Khan University’s Matiari Research and Training Centre took place recently. The construction of the state-of-the-art one-storey building will enable the University to expand its research on mother and child issues in support of national health policy and to strengthen the capacity of local, on-the-ground health care practitioners.

The Centre will become the hub of the University’s research and training into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of some of today’s major mother and child problems in Pakistan.

AKU has been working with the Department of Health, Government of Sindh, and public and private health care providers in Matiari, a small district with high mother and child mortality rates. For over a decade, the University has been looking for innovative, low cost solutions that can make a difference to well known mother and child issues.

“We have identified affordable, accessible and adaptive evidence-based interventions that can be scaled up into Pakistan’s public health policy, the Lady Health Visitor programme and the delivery of services to vulnerable communities,” says Dr Zulfiqar Bhutta, Founding Director, Centre for Excellence in Women and Child Health, AKU.

“The Centre will be a viable platform to further our vision to improve capacities in the public and private sector and to influence change.”

“We are proud to have a knowledgeable and reliable partner like AKU to work on projects that are sustainable, to enable us to carry forward our philosophy of giving back to society as part of our corporate social responsibility,” added Sadruddin Ali, General Manager, United Energy Pakistan, funding the PKR 63.4 million project, to be completed by the end of this year.

Situated in Matiari with a population of over half a million people scattered over 1,400 villages, the Centre will  house a research laboratory and office and administration spaces, covering a total area of 11,000 sq ft.

UEP are the second partner in AKU’s effort to increase corporate fundraising to expand its academic and clinical facilities.

Earlier, English Biscuits Manufacturers (Pvt.) Limited supported the expansion of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi.