The Aga Khan University is part of the Warwick Centre for Global Health network, a partnership that began as part of the NIHR funded Global Health Research Unit on Improving Health in Slums, a project which commenced in 2017.

The team at the Aga Khan University is led by Dr Romaina Iqbal who oversees the research in Pakistan. Dr Iqbal is supported by Dr Narjis Rizvi, Dr Ahsana Nazish and Dr Kehkashan Azeem plus a team of fieldworkers. Their research site is Azam Basti a neighborhood in the Karachi East district of Karachi, Pakistan

In April 2019, Dr Oyebode visited Karachi to join the AKU team during the piloting phase of the household survey which was conducted amongst Azam Basti households as part of the NIHR GHRU on Improving Health in Slums project.

We discussed the NIHR Women in Science campaign with Dr Oyebode who reflected on her time in Karachi and the partnership with AKU: "we are delighted that we have forged a strong partnership between WCGH and AKU through the NIHR funded GHRU on Improving Health in Slums and we continue to collaborate with work focused on the food environment in poor urban neighbourhoods."

The partnership is strengthened even more with Dr Nazish and Dr Azeem both securing NIHR Short Placement Award for Research Collaboration (SPARC) awards which will see them collaborate with researchers at the University of Warwick to enhance their research skills and network with other researchers and specialists.

Focusing on the future of the collaboration, Dr Oyebode advised: "Our collaboration’s current aim is to ensure access to healthy, nutritious and sustainable diets for the urban poor. Between now and next year we hope to see data collection and analysis that can demonstrate the main dietary needs in poor urban populations, to make the case to policy makers for investment in interventions to improve diet."

You can read more about the work being undertaken by the Aga Khan University here

5 March, 2021