Foreword by President of IbnSina Afghanistan
Yet another twelve-month of success, the year 2007 witnessed major developments in IbnSina Public Health Program Afghanistan. A high point of the year was the first International Public Health Conference organized and hosted by the IbnSina Institute of Public Health and Management Sciences, in collaboration with the Afghan Public Health Institute of the Ministry of Public Health, on September 08, 2007. With speakers and representation from Pakistan, India, Tajekistan and Afghanistan, the international conference was the first such event to be held in Afghanistan, and marked a new chapter in technical and academic partnerships between the government and NGO sectors.
In addition to routine health care and capacity building activities, year 2007 marked a number of new beginnings. IbnSina forged fresh alliances for cooperation with organizations in India, and established a Telemedicine unit in the Ahmad Shah Baba Polyclinic. Other achievements included free surgical treatment of two Afghan blue babies at the Narayana Cardiac Institute, as part of an agreement between IbnSina and the Institute.
IbnSina Afghanistan harnessed all available resources to improve the quality of its health care, training, and education programs, and to streamline its management systems. IbnSina’s Afghanistan programs were strengthened and stabilized. Its Pakistan program also expanded to cover two districts of NWFP through its 11 basic health clinics and three emergency obstetric centers.
The IbnSina Institute of Public Health and Management Sciences successfully completed the first Masters Degree course in Public Health, offered in collaboration with the Institute of Management Sciences Peshawar Pakistan, with twenty Afghan MD doctors graduating. The IbnSina Institute also offered short training courses on health and management subjects, earning a reputation as a credible, quality, higher education institution in Afghanistan, for its contributions to technical capacity building.
With its first school in Kabul successfully completing one academic year, the IbnSina Afghanistan education department opened private sector schools in Mazar-e-Sharif and Laghman.
The past year also found IbnSina poised for further expansion internationally. Having established itself as a qualified and competent international NGO providing relief and emergency care in the earthquake affected north of Pakistan, IbnSina turned toward its northwestern neighbor, and in November 2007, registered itself as an international NGO in Tajekistan, and set up office in the capital Dushanbe.
At IbnSina Afghanistan, the year 2007 was also a year of discussions and debates about the concept of health and its relationship to the concept of Islam. Through routine activities, and special events, IbnSina Afghanistan promoted an understanding of health on lines parallel to Islam. The year was also dedicated to the promotion of the use of ‘Meswak’, as nature’s answer to man’s oral health needs. Booklets and literature about ‘Meswak’ were produced and distributed extensively, and the President and CEO of IbnSina lectured staff, clients and partners, as well as students at the Kabul Medical University and the IbnSina Institute of Public Health and Management Sciences (IPHMS), about the benefits of ‘Meswak’.
