Compiled and prepared by ABDULMALIK MERCHANT
Publisher-Editor, Simerg, Barakah and Simergphotos

February 2019: Prince Hussain Aga Khan in Nairobi

During the month of February 2019, Prince Hussain Aga Khan officially inaugurated his exhibition of marine photography at the historic Town Jamatkhana (Khoja Mosque) in Nairobi.

The collection of some 100 photographs of oceanic ecosystems in various parts of the world depicted the beauty, fragility and diversity of marine life and brought to  attention the necessity and urgency to protect, conserve and manage our oceanic heritage and resources.

Prince Hussain Aga Khan accompanied Chief Guest Mr. Keriako Tobiko, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forestry for a special viewing of the exhibition. Cabinet Secretary Keriako commended Prince Hussain for “a true display of exceptional passion for marine ecosystems” and for using photography to inform and educate audiences about the diversity that exists in our seas and oceans. He made special mention of the Aga Khan Development Network’s (AKDN) support to Kenya’s commitment to 10% tree cover by 2022, by planting more than 10 million trees since 2014.

Prince Hussain Aga Khan toured Kenya with his fiancée Miss Elizabeth Hoag. While in the country, they also visited a number of AKDN projects in Nairobi, including Aga Khan High School, Aga Khan University, Aga Khan University Hospital, Frigoken, and Serena properties.

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March 6, 2019: Prince Rahim and Princess Salwa Aga Khan tour labs in Seattle

The Aga Khan University and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center on March 6, 2019  expressed their shared commitment in working together to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer and related diseases in low- and middle-income countries.

President Firoz Rasul of Aga Khan University and President and Director of Fred Hutch, Dr. Gary Gilliland, signed a memorandum of understanding which aims to foster joint international scientific research projects, training programmes in clinical care, laboratory and clinical research programmes and infrastructure development in low- and middle-income settings, primarily in East Africa.

Prior to the signing ceremony, Prince Rahim and Princess Salwa took a tour of the Hutch laboratory of Dr. Stanley Riddell, scientific director of the Hutch’s Immunotherapy Integrated Research Center. No stranger to the Pacific Northwest, Princess Salwa is a Seattle native and a graduate of the University of Washington.

The couple also visited the lab of Dr. Hootie Warren, head of the Hutch’s Global Oncology Program. There, Dr. Manoj Menon described several research initiatives underway in Uganda, including a clinical study for breast cancer.

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March 9, 2019: Princess Zahra Aga Khan in Dar es Salaam

The Aga Khan Development Network has now been in Tanzania for over 100 years and works in many sectors of economic and social and cultural development across the country. Indeed, the original building on this site was built in 1964. I think it’s a testimony to the long history of the Aga Khan Development Network and the long partnership between the Government of Tanzania and the institutions of the network….This Hospital was internationally recognised in 2016 with the Joint Commission International, the first hospital in Tanzania and only the second one in East Africa, after the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi, to get this distinction of quality of care. – Princess Zahra Aga Khan, March 9, 2019, Dar es Salaam.

Aga Khan Health Services (AKHS) on March 9, 2019 launched the completion of the second phase of a US$ 83.5 million (TZS 192 billion) expansion of the Aga Khan Hospital in Dar es Salaam, which will enable the institution to serve over one million patients each year.

I am pleased to say, thanks to that, today, the Hospital employs some of the most qualified and competent human resources, supplemented by world-class technical expertise, and that this Hospital will offer specialised programmes in cardiology, oncology, neurosciences, advanced critical care diagnostics as well as responding to the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases in Tanzania.  These services come in addition to our traditional key focus areas of maternal, neonatal and child health, which have also been strengthened as a result of this expansion, the Phase II building. I am delighted that this advanced facility will allow all Tanzanians to receive world-class treatment at home and therefore reversing the need for medical tourism abroad and hopefully encouraging medical tourism within the region. – Princess Zahra Aga Khan, March 9, 2019, Dar es Salaam.

The inauguration was conducted by His Excellency, the Honourable Kassim M. Majaliwa (MP), Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania and Princess Zahra Aga Khan.

The expansion, funded by a US$ 53.5 million (TZS 134 billion) loan from the French Development Agency (Agence Française de Développement – AFD) and a US$ 26.3 million (TZS 58 billion) contribution from the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), transforms the Aga Khan Hospital from a 74-bed hospital into a 170-bed tertiary care teaching hospital that offers the facilities to successfully provide advance clinical programmes in cardiology, oncology, neuro sciences, critical care (including neo-natal critical care) and maternal and child health, all supported by relevant diagnostics, integrated operating rooms and a sophisticated accident and emergency department.

It will serve as an integrated health care medical facility for Tanzania and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. The second phase development also marks a countrywide expansion of AKHS with 35 outreach health centres, 23 of which are already operational.

Date posted: March 30, 2019.

Please do not leave this website before visiting Barakah’s Table of Contents for links to more than 150 excellent pieces dedicated to Mawlana Hazar Imam and his family.

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REFERENCES

Material for this post was compiled from the following sources:

• Fred Hutch and Aga Khan University set stage for collaboration on global health
• http://www.theismaili.org
• http://www.akdn.org

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