AdministratoR, Author at Aga Khan University Alumni Association of North America

About AdministratoR

Admin is the AKUAANA Website Administrator, currently located in Lahore, Pakistan.

Featured Alumnus: Dr. Adnan Ali Hyder, AKU ’90

April 22, 2014 By AdministratoR

Dr. Adnan Ali Hyder

I have had the pleasure of knowing Adnan Ali Hyder (MBBS, Class of 1990) for the last 25 years. At AKU, he was 3 years my senior and at the time our interaction was very polite. Fast forward 5 years later and he opened up his home to me when I first moved to Washington DC. During that time Adnan arranged the first AKU Alumni Association Reunion at former Dean James Bartlett’s house in 1996 and his contribution to our Association has been constant.

Adnan has prospered over the last two decades and as I understood more fully his sphere of influence, I felt that he would be a perfect candidate for our Featured Alumni section at AKUAANA.org. As you will read, Adnan has reached the pinnacle of academia in the world yet when you meet him, your interaction will leave you inspired and proud of this AKU graduate.

Faisal G. Qureshi
President,
AKU Alumni Association of North America

Give me a quick summary of what you do exactly.

I have many titles and responsibilities so I am just going to list them for your readers.

I am a tenured professor of International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA.
I am the Director of the Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit (JH-IIRU), a World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Injuries, Violence and Accident Prevention. I helped establish the unit in 2008 at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to respond to the growing burden of injuries worldwide. We work to identify effective solutions to the growing burden of injuries in low- and middle-income populations, influence public policy and practice and advance the field of injury prevention throughout the world through research, collaboration and training.
I am also the Director of the Health Systems program, within the Bloomberg School’s Department of International Health. The principal goal of Health Systems is to improve the capacity of communities to deliver the best possible preventive and curative care to their respective members. Our multidisciplinary faculty work with local governments / community leaders, ministries of health, community-based health and human service agencies, universities, and research institutes to achieve this goal.
I am also the Associate Director for Global Bioethics at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. In this position I provide strategic guidance for global engagement for research, education and service in bioethics. This position allows me to continue my passion for bioethics – one that I have had since doing Community Health Sciences (CHS) rotations at AKU! I also co-direct the NIH/Fogarty sponsored African Bioethics Training program which has been running since 2000.
Finally, I have been a consultant on public health, strategy and research for international organizations such as the World Bank, the World Health Organization and the United Nations.

What aspects of your education at AKU helped you the most in deciding your future trajectory?

My first response is to say the entire AKU experience – all 5 years with the rotations, calls and interactions – has shaped me and my thinking. Of course, within that sphere of experiences some affected me more than others – the revealing visit to a katchi abadi, the first patient I clerked, the anxiety of a medical rotation with Dr. Vellani, and the stress in surgical rounds with Dr. Muhstaq – stand out. The mentoring I received from our faculty taught me discipline, attention to detail, and handling stress (this last point is a really important task). However, the single most important impact on me was the influence of Professor Jack Bryant, our chair of CHS. Through him I imbibed the love for causal analysis, social justice and population based inquiry – and eventually public health.

People may not know that my first job out of medical school (1990) was with Aga Khan Health Services in Gilgit, Northern Pakistan, as manager for a primary healthcare program. This experience – where I was responsible for upgrading a medical centre for surgery, a staff of 20, and even the architecture (we developed a soak pit for the refuse) – influenced me to think about a career where clinical and public health work might co-exist. That thought evolved later but it was a great goal to chase for my early career. Living and working in a remote area and being an independent decision maker in a micro-health systems helped shaped my interest in systems of care for populations.

What type of work do you in Pakistan? With AKU?

I have been fortunate to work in Pakistan since I was a doctoral student – and have worked with both public and private health sectors – in public health training, research and service. For example, I have helped the Pakistan Medical and Research Council, the Health Services Academy, and the Ministry of Health in various research studies and programs over the years. These efforts have helped with curricular innovations in the masters of public health in Islamabad; analysis of the first national health examination survey of Pakistan; and developing terms of reference for a national ethics committee in the country.

I have also been privileged to work with AKU since 1998 – when I did my first joint research on child health – through the Geneva based Global Forum for Health Research. Since then I have been lucky to have maintained an active portfolio of work with AKU. I have worked with AKU to conduct research on ethics and run short term training programs; and served as advisor to the development of the masters in bioethics program at AKU. I have worked on child injuries, analyzed information collected in emergency rooms all over Pakistan, developed an injury hazard assessment tool, and helped pilot test a home injury prevention program.

Research capacity development in trauma and injuries has been the core of my work in recent times; and this has involved close collaboration with the Department of Emergency Medicine and my friend Junaid Razzak (MBBS’94). This Johns Hopkins-AKU collaboration that we run is now 9 years old and has been continuously funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s Fogarty International Center – and helped us conduct sentinel research on emergency care and train a cohort of professionals at AKU. In fact we have 5 trainees this year (2013-14) in our program and to-date they have been a majority of very smart young women health professionals.

What advice would you give medical students in choosing a career in public health?

I prefer to brainstorm with people and not “give” advice – but I believe that medical students have an array of opportunities in the 21^st century. Medicine is not a single field but a composite of several disciplines and professions that work together for human health – one individual at a time. It is therefore critical for students to appreciate that medicine is based on evidence – and the collection, analysis and interpretation of evidence is a vital skill and the sooner they acquire it the better. Second, medicine is a set of technical skills which can be used for multiple types of careers such as medical practice, clinical research, public health, human rights, bioethics, genetics, bioengineering, m/e-health amongst others. Medicine gives us the “opportunity” to access these pathways, explore them and focus our energy to one or more of them for a lifetime. And finally, there is no short cut to hard work – putting in the hours, perseverance, dedication – these are hallmarks of future success, irrespective of the specific career.

I hope young professionals think about these issues and appreciate that they are privileged and with that status comes responsibility – to themselves, their families and society – and public health allows one way to fulfill these goals. Public health can be a career, or a part-time job, or a passion – in all cases our contributions should be high quality and exemplary.

Success in academics is often associated with publications. You seem to have developed a good mechanism to continuously publish. Is there a secret?

There is no secret, but two things are needed – putting in the time and the necessary hard work. I tell my junior faculty and colleagues to work on a paper every day; to put aside some time (even 30 minutes) every single day (nearly!) to work on a paper or a proposal – both are critical for academic success. Two other ingredients help – collaboration and diversity. Collaborate with colleagues and professionals in your field; help them write and they will help you publish – define “win-win” partnerships. And diversify the types of papers you write – original research is a must, but add systematic reviews, policy papers, teaching experiences, and enrich your portfolio. Write at all times and learn to enjoy it.

For me, writing is a moral imperative – I see it as an essential and ethical way to share knowledge, learning, lessons and experiences with colleagues around the world.

If an AKU grad wanted to get involved with your work, what should they do? How do they prepare and how can they reach you?

I have had a long history of engaging AKU grads and have had the privilege of having many of them work with me or on my projects. I am always interested in collaboration if it is a good fit. Younger colleagues should carefully review what I do, read the materials on our websites, and flip through some of my papers. Then formulate a brief and succinct email which clarifies who they are, what is their goal and why they are approaching me. Ask a specific question or ask for specific assistance. I travel extensively, and that means that I have little time and often check emails at airports or in hotels – so I truly appreciate a focused email which I can quickly review and then respond.

What personal traits do you think have helped you succeed?

This is a tough one – one can never be sure – but I suspect that dedication, attention to detail, hard work and intellectual curiosity have helped. Passion helps a lot – and I am truly passionate about my work – I get up every day excited that I can conduct more research or teach a class or travel to another field site – this ensures sustained and (I hope) life-long effort. Scientific integrity is also vital – a commitment to quality and scientific rigor – and willingness to apply strong criteria to my own work always allows me to do better next time. Public health is not a job for me – it defines me – and I love being part of this global health movement.

Thank you!

The AKUAANA website features an AKU alumnus every quarter. We want profiles to highlight various aspects of alumni careers/lives – academic and research, clinical, private practice, political achievements, social activism, philanthropy etc.

Profiles of other alumni highlighted on the website over the time can be viewed under the “Featured Alumni” category.

In order to nominate someone or self-nominate, email your nomination and information by email to .

Featured Alumnus: Dr. Haider Javed Warraich, AKU ’09

March 4, 2014 By AdministratoR

Dr. Haider Javed Warraich

A few weeks ago, I read an interesting article in the New York Times about the use of Google Search by physicians to learn about their patient’s backgrounds prior to consulting on them. The author was Haider Warraich, an internal medicine resident at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. I did what anyone would do, I googled him. I was very pleasantly surprised when a list of his publications popped up and I realized that I had read his articles in the past but never paid close attention to the author. What I did not expect was that he was a graduate of the Aga Khan University Medical School, Class of 2009.

I reached out to him and recommended highlighting him as a featured AKU alumnus. Clearly, Haider is well accomplished as a young physician with 34 indexed publications in Medicine (remember he graduated in 2009). But what makes him truly unique is the fact that he has already published a first novel, “Auras of the Jinn”, and several articles for outlets such as the New York Times, the LA Times, the Atlantic, the Guardian and Foreign Policy.

He was very humble when I spoke to him. He told me of his love for writing as a young boy and how his parents encouraged him to pursue his calling. Married and applying for a Cardiology fellowship this coming year, he was kind enough to respond to some of my questions.

We are very pleased to highlight Haider as our featured alumnus and look forward to his continued success.

Faisal G. Qureshi
President,
AKU Alumni Association of North America

What got you interested in writing?

Very early on when I was ten, I drew a comic book about a crime fighting mayor in Karachi. Stuck by sentiment, I gave it away to one of my friend who was moving away. I followed that up with a few stories I wrote in a notebook about death on K2, anacondas, detectives and other fantastic ideas. My first publication was a poem, published in the Nation the day after India’s nuclear test in 1999. I followed that up with a series of articles for the News and Dawn. It was at Aga Khan University that I wrote my novel “Auras of the Jinn”, which was published by an Indian publishing house and distributed in both India and Pakistan. Aga Khan University really provided me with the environment, both intended and unintended, to become the person and writer I am today.

What type of writer do you think you are? Investigative, fictional, medical?

I started out as a pure fiction writer. It was when I started writing research papers that I became much more analytical. Writing fiction is much more forgiving than writing a paper. I appreciated the need of precision as I wrote manuscripts and having them shredded apart by reviewers. Over the years my writing has evolved and I have found a happy marriage between storytelling and analysis. Providing facts can inform readers but telling a story evokes a more primal response.

Which do you prefer?

I haven’t written fiction in years. I finished my novel in the summer of 2006 and have never really been struck by the bug since. Writing fiction is a consuming process; it never leaves you, and everything you do is colored by it. In many ways, it makes you vulnerable to your most primal senses: you see more, smell more, feel more, remember more. Being that open is burdensome and not always compatible with being a productive human being. Writing non-fictional observational pieces are far less taxing. However, I miss writing fiction and wait for the calling everyday.

As a resident, where do you get the time, the ideas?

During internship, I did little more than work, eat and sleep, and I barely wrote anything. But more than time, as an intern I had little idea about what was going on around me. As a resident however, not only have I had more time, I feel much more capable of understanding how medicine works, what patients feel, and what makes doctors tick. Every day I go to work, I am bombarded with ideas. The difficulty lies in picking out what is relevant, original and interesting.

What was your first major piece, where?

My first major piece was written in the aftermath of the Boston marathon. Having been very close to the events, caught in the stampede, I reported my experience that was published in the New York Times Op Ed the day after the tragic events. The piece received international attention. I was on call in the intensive care unit the next day. My pager, which was signed over to one of my co-residents, was beeping constantly with correspondents from CNN, BBC, NPR and PBS. It was a minor distraction as I tried to get through rounding on a long list of sick patients. But I was glad the article got the attention; it was the first time the experience of being a Muslim was published in a major American outlet and represented not only the experience of paranoia that I felt but resonated with anyone anywhere who had experienced discrimination of any sort.

How did you get involved with the New York Times, Atlantic Journal? Boston Globe?

My first major piece was a story I wrote for the New York Times. I wrote it during a few long dark winter nights while I was rotating in Dana Farber. At any given time my team would be taking care of a lot of chronically ill patients at the end of life. As one of the most prominent tertiary care cancer centers, patients came from far and away fuelled with hope of a good outcome in the face of a very poor prognosis. At the same time, I would read so many articles in the media about the enduring power of hope, but as a physician I saw hope leading many down a path of more procedures, more interventions, and more shattered dreams. The piece, titled ‘The Cancer of Optimism’ was accepted for publication in the Sunday Op Ed by the New York Times. This piece was accepted before the piece about the Boston Marathon bombings but published afterwards.

After that, and due to the additional time I had as a resident, I started to write extensively for publications I enjoyed reading. I published more pieces for the Times, as well as the LA Times, the Guardian and the Atlantic amongst others.

Anything else we should know about you? Your other interests?

Within medicine, I get my creative outlet in clinical research. Going to Aga Khan University was the only reason I could develop an acumen and interest in research. I was lucky to work with Anita Zaidi, and used the experience to maintain my connection with research to remain productive. My research and my writing are complimentary – both inform each other in unexpected ways. Research relies on clearly expressed ideas while good writing that informs readers benefits from the rigor of accuracy that forms the basis of research. Amongst many benefits, my research allowed me to match into a prestigious residency program. Providing strong research training during medical school and access to mentorship can help train medical students for successful careers in academic medicine. The alumni can have a major role in opening up access to research mentorship which can provide a pathway for medical students to succeed.

Profiles of other alumni highlighted on the website over the time can be viewed under the “Featured Alumni” category.

In order to nominate someone or self-nominate, email your nomination and information by email to .

AKUAANA launches new website and starts Membership Drive

March 4, 2014 By AdministratoR

Dear alumni and students,

We are very excited to announce an upgrade to the AKUAANA website. Significant changes have been made to the look and feel of the website and we think that our members will find more value in it.

We have also started a significant membership drive this month. We are encouraging you and your classmates to become a member of your association. Our goal is to have 10 life time and 10 yearly members from each graduating class. Simply put, the organization cannot thrive until you actively participate in it.

I look forward to meeting you all in Washington DC in the summer.

Faisal G. Qureshi (1993)
President, Aga Khan University Alumni Association of North America
Email:

First Female APPNA GHAR Established in New Jersey

February 15, 2014 By AdministratoR

Dear APPNA Members,

I am delighted to inform you about the establishment of the first female “APPNA GHAR” in New Jersey. APPNA GHAR is one of the facilities born out of a tremendous need for incoming new graduates from Pakistan to have a subsidized residential facility where they can live easily, while preparing and taking the CSA (Clinical Skills Assessment), take interviews and improve their credentials by gaining US clinical experience. Before the creation of these facilities in Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia and New York, these candidates were at a disadvantage; they could not afford the high expenditure to stay in big cities to take the CSA exam on time or to obtain volunteer research work in US, and therefore ended up with a less than competitive CV. As a result many of them went unmatched despite obtaining scores in the 90th percentile and spending a fortune during this lengthy process.

We have already set up a two bedroom apartment in central New Jersey, “Rahway”, half a mile from train station, 30 minutes ride to New York City, 90 minutes ride to Philadelphia, PA. The House can accommodate 6-8 students at a time. We have students living there while going through interview process at the Tri-State area.

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Just to remind everyone that APPNA New Jersey Chapter is a 501(c)3 tax free organization, so all donations are tax free. We will send you a letter at the end of the year.

Best Regards,
Rabia S. Awan, MD
President, APPNA-NJ 2013
Contact Number: 732-499-4994
E-Mail: rabiawan@optonline.net
Address: 1503 St. George’s Avenue, Colonia, NJ 07067

Asif M. Rehman, MD
President, APPNA 2014

AKUAANA President’s Message to Alumni: January 2014

January 1, 2014 By AdministratoR

January 1^st, 2014

Dear AKU Medical College Alumni,

Thank you for installing us as the leaders of your Alumni Association for the next two years. We would also like to thank our predecessors who have guided this association as we celebrate 25 years since the first class graduated from AKU in 1988.

There are roughly 1800 AKUMC graduates in North America and they represent the fastest growing segment of all medical graduates from Pakistan. Those of you who follow our website and our Facebook page already know how successful our graduates have been in their adopted homelands. We have some of the youngest professors, most successful academicians and brightest entrepreneurs in the country!

At this juncture, your association AKUAANA has to decide what its future holds. Is it a group that loosely represents very successful physicians in North America and meets once a year at the sidelines of the APPNA summer convention? Or can we be a strong, successful organization that will help shape our collective response to this ever-changing social, political and economical landscape? How can we foster and nurture medical students and new graduates trying to achieve success in this competitive environment? Where and how, can we make our lives and the lives of our families, children and those around us better? Where and how do we give back to the nation that we call our ancestral home?

We don’t pretend to have the answers to these questions, but do believe that when you take some of the brightest minds that Pakistan has nurtured, these answers will come. They will come slowly, incrementally, in fits and starts, but they will come. To do so, we have to engage our alumni and give them a platform to bring forth their ideas and then a mechanism to give these ideas life.

Clearly, none of these goals can be accomplished without active alumni involvement. This participation has to begin with becoming an AKUAANA member and then active participation in all the decisions that we have to make over the next 25 years. We start the membership drive this month, so please join us, encourage others and get excited about the possibilities!

We thank you again for this opportunity to serve the organization and hope that we can live up to your expectations. If you have any questions, comments or thoughts, please reach out to any member of the team.

AKUAANA Administration, 2014 - 15
Designation	Name	Class	Email Address
President	Faisal Qureshi	1993
Secretary	Atif Shafqat	1993
Treasurer	Shazia Hussain	1990
Web Manager	Abdul Basit Saeed	2007

Happy New Year and best wishes,

Faisal Qureshi, 1993
President, AKUAANA (2014-15)

Live Webcast: AKU Convocation 2013, 10:30 am (PST) on Thursday, December 19, 2013

December 18, 2013 By AdministratoR

Dear Alumni, We are pleased to share with you that live video coverage of this year’s AKU Convocation 2013 in Karachi is available as a webcast!

This year’s Convocation will be presided over by the Chancellor, His Highness The Aga Khan. As is tradition, the ceremony will celebrate and honour the fine work of the graduating class by conferring upon them their respective degrees and diplomas. Here is your chance to join in online!

The Broadcast will begin on Thursday, December 19, 2013, 10:30 am (PST) and will be accessible at our web page for the AKU Convocation, 2013.

Please note that the quality of the webcast will be dependent on your internet bandwidth, service provider and location. Also, the University does not have control over any changes effected by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and how that may impact the broadcast. We look forward to having you join the ceremony online!

Best regards,

Abdul Haq Wahedna
Alumni Affairs
Aga Khan University

AKUAANA President’s Message to Alumni, December 2013

December 10, 2013 By AdministratoR

I hope you are all well and preparing for some down time over the Holiday season.

As we approach the end of the year, I would like to update you about what has been happening at AKUAANA. Over the last six months, your newly elected Executive Council has been hard at work enhancing our web presence and updating our databases. This has included additions and modifications to increase efficiency for users and administrators. As you know, maintaining an accurate database is a huge challenge, especially when it involves alumni early in their careers, when relocations are commonplace. We look to you to assist in this effort by ensuring that we have the most accurate contact information for you.

Early preparations for the Annual Reunion, 2014 to be held in mid-August in Washington DC have been initiated. The Class of 1989 will celebrate its 25th anniversary, Class of 1994 its 20^th, and the Class of 2004 will mark its 10^th year since graduating. The various classes have started to connect and plan. We look forward to celebrating with them!

The Aga Khan University is gearing up for a celebration to mark the 30^th year for the University Charter, the 30^th year of the School of Nursing, the 25^th year of the Medical College and the 20^th year for the Institute of Educational Development. Through the years, each of these institutions has raised the bar for their respective professions and I hope will continue to be trailblazers in the region. The festivities will take up most of December and will include at least two convocations and several reunions.

I would like to thank my Executive Council, Secretary Amna Iftikhar (’92), Treasurer Syed Jawad Sher (’97), and Web Design Project Lead Atif Jalees Khan (’99), for their hard work during the last two years. I would like to thank all of you for your support and applaud you for engaging with your alumni association. As is a constant refrain when I have the soapbox, it is your engagement that will allow this organization to fulfill its potential. And how can any organization that has the collective brains, charisma, charm and grit that is the AKU alumni not be a force to contend with!

It is my great pleasure to welcome the new Executive Council, President-elect Faisal Qureshi (’93), Secretary Atif Shafqat (’93), Treasurer Shazia Hussain (’90), and Web Director Abdul Basit Saeed (’07), as they take over the reins on January 1, 2014. They have already been hard at work and, I am sure, will continue to advance AKUAANA over their term.

On behalf of the outgoing Executive Council, please accept my gratitude for allowing us to represent your organization. Working with you has been an honor and a pleasure.

Engage, participate, own.

Sincerely,
Sadaf Khan, ’92

AKU Convocation 2013, Karachi: Process for Alumni Invitations

December 2, 2013 By AdministratoR

Dear AKU Alumni,

I am pleased to inform you that the AKU Convocation 2013 is being organised on Thursday, December 19, 2013 10:30 am at the Cricket field at the Stadium Road campus. This year, the Chancellor of the University is expected to preside over the Convocation at which accomplishments of the Class of 2013 from the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Medical College, and Institute for Educational Development will be acknowledged and celebrated.

This year’s Convocation in Karachi has special significance as, in addition to awarding of degrees, the following important milestones will also be commemorated:

– 30th anniversary of the granting of the University’s Charter
– 30th anniversary of the first graduating class of the School of Nursing and Midwifery
– 25th anniversary of the first graduating class of the Medical College
– 20th anniversary of the inauguration of the Institute for Educational Development

As is customary, a limited number of seats have been reserved for alumni at the Convocation. In order to request an invitation we ask that you kindly complete the following information and email us at alumni@aku.edu latest by Friday, December 6, 2013. Due to stringent security measures in place, we will not be able to process requests beyond this date.

*First name:
*Last name:
Name at Enrollment (if different from above):
Degree(s)/Diploma received at AKU:
Year(s) of graduation:
Present Location (City/ Country):
Mobile telephone number:
Email address:
CNIC (Pakistani citizens) or Passport number (for overseas based alumni):

*As appears on CNIC or Passport

Please note that invitations through this process are for alumni only and do not include spouses or families. Also, as space for the Convocation is limited, in case requests outnumber seats available, balloting will be held to determine invitees, who will be informed by email.

I am also delighted to share with you that an Alumni Reunion is also being planned for Friday, December 20, 2013, details for which will be shared shortly.

Meanwhile, we request you to kindly pass along information regarding the Convocation to all your alumni friends and colleagues with whom you might be in touch.

Best regards,

Louis R. Ariano
Associate Vice-Provost & University Registrar
Aga Khan University
South-Central Asia, East Africa & UK
P.O. Box 3500 | Stadium Road | Karachi 74800 | Pakistan
Tel: +92 21 3486 4440 | Fax: +92 21 3493 4294
Mobile (Pakistan): +92 (0) 345 823 3405
Mobile (East Africa): +254 (0) 738 801 589
Skype: louis.ariano

Saud Anwar, AKU Alumnus ’91, elected as Mayor of South Windsor, Connecticut

November 23, 2013 By AdministratoR

Dr. Saud Anwar

Congratulations to Saud Anwar, an AKU graduate (’91) who has been recently elected as Mayor of South Windsor in Connecticut.

Another AKU graduate blazing a trail…

Anwar is a native of Pakistan, who came to Connecticut via Illinois to study medicine at Yale. He sat down with Where We Live to talk about his faith, his vision for the town, and how he plans to juggle his busy schedule.

His interview can be read, along with an audio recording, here.

Typhoon Haiyan: Message from UNICEF

November 11, 2013 By AdministratoR

Dear friends,

As a member of the Southeast Regional Board of Directors for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, I am reaching out to you to make you aware about UNICEF’s response to the emergency in the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan.

Although this emergency is still only hours old, what we know already is that the death toll is horrific, and the overall impacted number equally so. You probably have been seeing photos and reading in the news, and the situation is indeed dire. The relief effort will need to be massive, and major financial assistance will be needed to help. Here is what we know so far:

It is believed the typhoon has impacted some 4 million children living in the area. As you know, children and babies are the most vulnerable after a disaster – not only do they suffer all of what adults suffer, but they are often separated from family and lack the maturity to seek help and care for themselves.
UNICEF has been in the country since the 1940s and is well positioned to serve. We already have access, personnel, partners on the ground, as well as the long history of experience in responding to crises.
UNICEF’s first priorities are focused on life-saving interventions – getting essential medicines, nutrition supplies, safe water and hygiene supplies to children and families. This is not the first natural disaster to strike the Philippines recently, following the earthquake in Bohol three weeks ago, so we know how vital it is to reach children quickly.
As I write this, UNICEF’s supply division in Copenhagen is loading some 60 metric tons of emergency supplies, including health, medical and shelter equipment, on to trucks bound for the Copenhagen airport for an emergency airlift. The Supply Division is also airlifting water purification and storage equipment and sanitation supplies directly from suppliers in Europe and Asia to Manila. Additional staff are also arriving from around the world.

Please visit our website on the crisis to learn more. If you are interested in supporting UNICEF’s emergency relief work for the children of the Philippines, please go to our Donate Now page.

Thank you so much,

Sincerely,
Yaseen Abubaker

About AdministratoR

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