The New Delhi event saw three AKU faculty associated with the University’s Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health (COE-WCH) receive recognition for their research. AKU’s Dr Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, Dr Sajid Soofi and Dr Muhammad Atif Habib contributed to the Research Paper of the Year, Community engagement and integrated health and polio immunisation campaigns in conflict-affected areas of Pakistan: a cluster randomised controlled trial. 

The study generated evidence of the value of a range of community-based interventions in expanding polio vaccine coverage in insecure areas of Pakistan, which is one of only three countries in the world where the disease has yet to be eradicated. 

Conducted in partnership with faculty from the Peshawar Medical College and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the study’s findings were published in The Lancet Global Health in June 2017. 

Dr Bhutta also received an individual award on the night as he was named joint winner of the Outstanding Contribution to Health in South Asia award. Described as one of the “icons of South Asian healthcare”, Dr Bhutta, founding director of the COE-WCH, won the award alongside Samiran Nundy from the Ganga Ram Postgraduate Institute for Medical Education and Research.

In his video message, Dr Bhutta described the award as a “great honour”, adding: “Any of the laurels that come my way really are to go to the larger team that I’ve had the good fortune of heading for the last 30 years. 

"These young people do the work on the ground that generates knowledge that helps global policy and by doing the requisite implementation research in some of the most deprived populations. They are the real heroes of efforts to try and improve maternal, newborn and child health in South Asia.”