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Category : Pakistan


Building Baby Brains in Rural Pakistan

Building Baby Brains in Rural Pakistan

Exposure to toxic levels of stress and violence in pregnancy or early life can have lasting health impacts. In Pakistan, where the under-five mortality rate is 67 deaths per 1,000 live births, researchers Alexandra Harrison, MD, and Elizabeth Levey, MD—both Assistant Professors of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School—are exploring ways to reverse stress levels and their impacts. As 2022 LMSAI faculty grant winners, their project designs a comprehensive training system for lady health workers (LHW), a common practice across low-resource areas of South Asia that provides pre- and postnatal care. Dr. Harrison and Dr. Leavey’s training system, Building Baby Brains (BBB), equips the LHW with the tools they need to support the infant-caregiver relationship, with the goal of ultimately increasing the neurodevelopment—and decreasing the mortality—of children in rural Pakistan.

Calling All Harvard Photographers! Submit Pictures to the LMSAI Photo Contest

Calling All Harvard Photographers! Submit Pictures to the LMSAI Photo Contest
Calling all Harvard photographers! The Mittal Institute seeks images of South Asia for our inaugural PHOTO CONTEST. Deadline Extended to 5pm EST on Friday, March 10 in the following categories: CATEGORIES: 1. Nature + Landscapes 2. People 3. Urban Landscapes and...

Asim Khwaja: Sound Economics Can Enrich Pakistan

Asim Khwaja: Sound Economics Can Enrich Pakistan

Economists provide policy advice at the institutional, country, and regional levels, on a host of pressing issues: climate change, education, financial stability, and more. In the recent talk, “Sound Economics can Enrich Pakistan,” Professor Asim Khwaja explored how successful these economic policies have been to the set of challenges facing Pakistan. Asim Khwaja is Sumitomo-FASID Professor of International Finance & Development; Director, Center for International Development, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University; and a Mittal Institute Steering Committee member. He was joined in conversation by the talk’s chair, Alnoor Bhimani, Director, LSE South Asia Centre and Professor of Management Accounting at LSE. The event was hosted in collaboration with the Mittal Institute and the London School of Economics South Asia Centre.

Pakistan’s 75 Years of Independence: Previewing the November Conference

Pakistan’s 75 Years of Independence: Previewing the November Conference

Yaqoob Khan Bangash is a historian of Modern South Asia and a current Fulbright Fellow at the Mittal Institute (read our Q&A with Dr. Bangash). He is also the coordinator of the upcoming event, “The Pakistan Conference: 75 Years of Independence,” November 29-30 at CGIS South.
The conference aims to bring a focused, though not exclusionary, lens to the study of the country and its 75 years since independence. It will provide the space to reflect upon the past, but also explore the lingering legacies and challenges that continue to cast a shadow over the country. We spoke with Yaqoob about his motivations behind the conference, and what attendees can expect.

Liaquat Channa on the Role of Language in Educational Systems

Liaquat Channa on the Role of Language in Educational Systems

Liaquat Channa, an educational linguist, joins the Mittal Institute this academic year as the new Syed Babar Ali Fellow. His research interests include language and education, hidden curriculum and language textbooks, language teacher identity, language in education policy and planning. He is a Fulbright alumnus, and completed his Ph.D. in Language and Literacy Education with a concentration on teaching English to speakers of other languages and World Language Education from the University of Georgia. Prior to joining the Mittal Institute, he was a Professor in the Department of English at Balochistan University of IT, Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS) in Quetta, Pakistan. We spoke to Liaquat about his research and what he hopes to accomplish while at the Mittal Institute.

Pakistan’s Catastrophic Flooding: Harvard Speaks

The torrential monsoon rains in Pakistan have eclipsed the label of a mere natural disaster; Pakistan is undergoing a humanitarian crisis. In the past two months, the heaviest rainfalls on record have killed over 1,300 people and have severely impacted 33 million others. The National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) estimates that over half a million homes have been destroyed. Relief efforts are direly needed given the rapidly-worsening situation. Harvard College Pakistani Students Association is raising funds to provide victims with meals, shelter, sanitary products, and more. Please donate what you can so we can help give much-needed funds to those suffering in Pakistan and please share this far and wide so we can raise much-needed awareness for this perilous situation.

Pakistan Flooding Relief Fundraiser

Pakistan Flooding Relief Fundraiser

The torrential monsoon rains in Pakistan have eclipsed the label of a mere natural disaster; Pakistan is undergoing a humanitarian crisis. In the past two months, the heaviest rainfalls on record have killed over 1,300 people and have severely impacted 33 million others. The National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) estimates that over half a million homes have been destroyed. Relief efforts are direly needed given the rapidly-worsening situation. Harvard College Pakistani Students Association is raising funds to provide victims with meals, shelter, sanitary products, and more. Please donate what you can so we can help give much-needed funds to those suffering in Pakistan and please share this far and wide so we can raise much-needed awareness for this perilous situation.