Providing shelter for medical services in remote Pakistan with AKHS and AKAH

Region: Asia and the Pacific
Country: Pakistan
Year: 2020
Shelter: RHU
Project size: 0-50
Modality: COVID-19 pandemic relief , Isolation units
Sector: Health
Partner: Aga Khan Development Agency, Aga Khan Health Services, Aga Khan Agency for Habitat
Support: Capacity Building, Assurance, Communications, Logistics

As the northern regions of Pakistan were confronted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for medical centres in mountainous and remote areas rapidly increased.

Due to the urgent nature of the pandemic and the growing demand for emergency clinics, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) and Better Shelter acted swiftly in order to assist the local medical community. By combining the expertise of the Aga Khan Health Services (AKHS) as well as the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) with Better Shelter’s modular shelter design, clinics were set up in 6 locations.

40 total RHUs were distributed between the AKAH and AKHS, and deployed across 4 sites in Gilgit, Mastui, Aliabad and Singal. At an additional 2 sites in Gramchamsa and Booni, AKAH used locally manufactured prefabricated sandwich panels in order to adapt hard and soft structures to the specific requirements of each site. The first facility was completed 9 days after having received the RHUs.

Read more about this project here