Dear Alumni,

The AKUAANA Executive Council, after working for well over 6 months with consensus, decided to partner with AKU to support the “Ibrahim Haidri Outreach Clinic” in Karachi, Pakistan. The clinic will provide treatment for anemia in pregnant women, directly impacting infant mortality and perinatal morbidity. Our AKU Alumnus Anita Zaidi, ’88 is helping us at the location. Our estimated cost to support the clinic is $17,000 per year.

I would like to especially thank Mohsin Ali, Aneel Chowdhary and Namirah Jamshed (all from ’96) who helped the Executive Council in reviewing the project specifics. Their input was vital in moving the project forward. In fact, the Class of ’96 took the lead and adopted the project for their Class Gift. Additionally, I would like to thank the Class of ’94, who helped in the vetting of the project and gave us major insight.

As a first step, on May 21st, 2016 at the Regional AKUAANA Reunion in Virginia, we did a silent auction of paintings from renowned Pakistani artists. These paintings were acquired by support of a number of sponsors, and luckily we were able to jump start the project by raising $5,800.

Since the start of the project, we have collected $68,895 till December 2016. The project was officially launched on August 15th, 2016 at the Ibrahim Haidri site. As per our understanding and commitment with the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, a six-monthly impart report for the project will be shared with the donors by the end of February, 2017.

The AKUAANA Executive Council is looking at the alumni to support AKUAANA in moving this project forward, and hope you can help us in this endeavor.

Click here to send your donation directly to AKU. While donating, please don’t forget to designate the donation to “AKUAANA fund” and to mention your year of graduation under the Donation Information section.

Let us show the power of our alumni body and help fund this project!

Habib Chotani: President
Faisal Qureshi: Immediate Past President
Rehan Khan: Secretary
Amber Syed: Treasurer
Abdul Basit Saeed: Web Manager

Dear alumni,

Over the last several months, the AKUAANA Executive Council has been working on identifying a common project in Pakistan to adopt and support. We looked at various potential projects including those within AKU, as well as non-AKU programs like The Citizens Foundation.

We have kept the alumni in the loop by discussing with them via teleconferences (led by Rehan Khan ’94, Secretary AKUAANA), individual discussions, and sharing pertinent information on Facebook to keep this process as transparent as possible.

The Council, after getting input from the Alumni body, felt that as a first project of AKUAANA we should collaborate with AKU. In the future, however, we would also like to consider projects that may be outside of AKU, if that is what our membership recommends.

Some valid considerations voiced out by our alumni regarding doing a project with AKU included:

1. “We are from AKU and we want to give back to AKU!”
2. selecting a project that supports educational activity of AKU medical students
3. supporting primary care
4. having an AKU alumnus on the ground to help with the project
5. that the project not be outrageously expensive

We had multiple meetings and discussions with the Resource Department at AKU to identify a project that would have the above mentioned goals. Once we identified the project, we then worked with the AKU Resource Department on its details, especially its budget. Mohsin Ali, Aneel Chowdhary and Namirah Jamshed (all from ’96) helped the Executive Council in reviewing the project specifics. Their input was vital in moving the project forward. After an intense review and many discussions with the AKU Resource Department, we are confident with our choice and are now moving forward with the project.

The AKUAANA Executive Council, with consensus, has decided to partner with AKU to support the “Ibrahim Haidri Outreach Clinic” in Karachi, Pakistan. The clinic will provide primary care to women and children, with special focus on anemia treatment in pregnant women, directly impacting infant mortality and perinatal morbidity. Our AKU alumna Anita Zaidi, ’88 is heading the research program at the location, so we have feet on the ground as well. At a cost of $17,000 per year to support the clinic, the Council does not find this project to be outrageously expensive. Further details are given in this presentation.

As a first step, on May 21st at the Regional AKUAANA Reunion in Virginia, we did a silent auction of paintings from renowned Pakistani artists. These paintings were acquired by support of a number of sponsors, and luckily we were able to jump start the project by raising $5800.

Now the AKUAANA Executive Council is looking at the alumni to support AKUAANA in moving this project forward, and hope you can help us in this endeavor.

Click here to send your donation directly to AKU. While donating, please don’t forget to designate the donation to “AKUAANA fund” and to mention your year of graduation under the Donation Information section.

Let us show the power of our alumni body and help fund this project!

Habib Chotani
President AKUAANA

Faisal Qureshi
Immediate Past President

Rehan Khan
Secretary

Amber Syed
Treasurer

Abdul Basit Saeed
Web Manager