The Aga Khan Health Services (AKHS) is an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network

Aga Khan Development Network

The Aga Khan Development Network is a group of private, non-denominational development agencies that seek to empower communities and individuals to improve living conditions and opportunities, in sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East...

 (AKDN) that supports activities in the health field, and manages more than 200 health facilities including a network of Aga Khan Hospital

Aga Khan Hospital

Aga Khan Hostpital may refer to:*Aga Khan Hospital, Dar es Salaam*Aga Khan Maternal and Child Care Centre, Hyderabad*Aga Khan Hospital for Women, Karimabad*Aga Khan Hospital, Kisumu*Aga Khan Hospital, Mombasa*Prince Aly Khan Hospital, Mumbai...

s.

It works closely with the Aga Khan Foundation

Aga Khan Foundation

The Aga Khan Foundation is a private, not-for-profit international development agency, which was founded in 1967 by . AKF seeks to provide long-term solutions to problems of poverty, hunger, illiteracy and ill health in the poorest parts of South and Central Asia, Eastern and Western Africa, and...

 (AKF) and the Aga Khan University

Aga Khan University

The Aga Khan University is a coeducational research university spread over three continents. It was granted its charter in 1983 as Pakistan's first private, autonomous university. AKU was founded by His Highness the Aga Khan, and is part of the Aga Khan Development Network...

 (AKU) on planning, training, and resource development, and with the Aga Khan Education Services

Aga Khan Education Services

Aga Khan Education Services is one of four agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network supporting activities in the field of education...

 (AKES) and the Aga Khan Planning and Building Services

Aga Khan Planning and Building Services

The Aga Khan Planning and Building Service was established in 1980 as an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network . The agency works to improve the built environment, particularly housing design and construction, village planning, natural hazard mitigation, environmental sanitation, water...

 (AKPBS) on the integration of health issues into specific projects.

With community health programmes in Central

Central Asia

Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...

 and South Asia, as well as East Africa, AKHS is one of the most comprehensive private not-for-profit health care systems in the developing world. It provides currative health care through 237 health centres, dispensaries, hospitals, diagnostic centres and community health outlets to one million benneficiaries and handles 1.2 million patient visits annually.

Building on the Ismaili Community's

Ismaili

' is a branch of Shia Islam. It is the second largest branch of Shia Islam, after the Twelvers...

 health care efforts in the first half of the 20th century, AKHS now provides primary health care

Primary health care

Primary health care, often abbreviated as “PHC”, has been defined as "essential health care based on practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology made universally accessible to individuals and families in the community through their full participation and at a cost...

 and curative care

Curative care

Curative care or curative medicine is the kind of health care traditionally oriented towards seeking a cure for an existent disease or medical condition...

 in Afghanistan, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Kenya, Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

, and Tanzania

Tanzania

The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

, and provides technical assistance to government in health service delivery in Kenya, Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

 and Tajikistan

Tajikistan

Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....

.

Programmes and major initiatives

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. 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.

AKHS's overall major initiatives 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.

Organization and governance

AKHS is organised into national service companies in Afghanistan, India, Kenya, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, and Uganda registered as a not-for-profit, non-governmental agencies in their respective countries. Each company is sponsored by Aga Khan Health Services S.A., a not-for-profit organisation registered in Switzerland and has its own Chairman and Board of Directors.

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) located within the Secretariat of the Aga Khan in France, co-ordinates the activities of the service companies through planning, budget reviews, 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.