The Aga Khan University brought together its Centres of Excellence in Women and Child Health from Pakistan and East Africa for a unique cross-continental exchange titled “One Vision", reaffirming the University's commitment to improving the lives of women, mothers and children across generations. The gathering highlighted how challenges in maternal, newborn and child health transcend borders, and how shared solutions can accelerate progress.
Opening the event, Dr Sajid B. Soofi, Director of the Centres, spoke about how decades of research at AKU have shaped lifesaving policies. He pointed to contributions that have influenced WHO guidance on chlorhexidine cord care, improved pneumonia management in communities, advanced the inclusion of IPV in Pakistan's EPI, and strengthened maternal and child nutrition programmes such as Ehsaas/BISP Nashonuma. He emphasised that evidence generated at AKU continues to shift global thinking on preventable maternal and newborn deaths.
From Pakistan's side, faculty and researchers shared innovations that have filled long-standing evidence gaps in low- and middle-income countries. Dr Shabina Ariff, Professor at the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health and lead for Newborn Health at the Centre, discussed landmark newborn trials that uncovered critical data on survival, early care and community-level interventions, findings that now inform clinical practice across regions.
The East Africa delegation, led by Dr Marlene Temmerman, Director CoE East Africa, brought powerful insights from their work spanning pregnancy, childbirth, adolescence and gender equity. “Our practice should lead to policy," she said. “Health begins at home, not just in hospitals." Her team, including Dr Helen Nabwera, Dr Angela Koech and Dr Evaline Lang'at, presented research that revealed the realities faced by women and adolescent girls, as well as the gender biases experienced by healthcare workers who serve them.
Throughout the seminar, speakers highlighted the shared barriers affecting mothers and children, ranging from preventable complications at birth to gaps in adolescent health and chronic underinvestment in women's wellbeing. Dr Salman Kirmani, Global Director of the Centres of Excellence, noted that these challenges require collective action. “We plan to make the centres a global partner and serve wherever we can, not just where we are based," he said.
The discussions highlighted how a unified Afro-Asian approach opens doors for multi-country research, joint grants, student exchanges and cross-regional training that strengthens the next generation of women's and child health specialists. Dr Karim Damji, Dean of the Medical College, reaffirmed the University's commitment to sustaining this partnership, calling it a continuation of the leaders who envisioned centres dedicated to protecting women's lives.
