Dr Hamidah Hussain passes away

KARACHI: Dr Hamidah Hussain, one of our most treasured alumni of Agakhan University, passed away unexpectedly. Her loss has been felt throughout the healthcare industry around the world. 

Her contributions to public health were crucial in preventing the needless loss of life worldwide, and she set an excellent example of knowledge, elegance, and courage.

Hamidah Hussain had almost two decades of expertise in creating, executing, and assessing global healthcare delivery projects and epidemiological research in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Tajikistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and South Africa. 

Her portfolio included her work on active case discovery for susceptible and drug-resistant tuberculosis, childhood tuberculosis, TB preventive services, childhood immunizations, avoidable diseases, and Malaria control programs, as well as the price and cost-effectiveness of these interventions.

She oversaw the IRD's flagship TB program at the Indus Hospital in Karachi and was key in expanding DR-TB treatment services in two Pakistani provinces. She was also a member of the team that got a grant from The Global Fund for tuberculosis and malaria as the Principal Recipient. 

Dr Hamidah Hussain was the Global Technical Lead for IRD's TB Preventive treatment initiatives and has aided Pakistan and Afghanistan in developing their national TB preventive treatment guidelines.

She was the founding country director for IRD Bangladesh, where she also worked as the senior strategy advisor to the National Tuberculosis Control Program, setting the vision and technical direction of the USAID-funded Challenge TB initiative. Previously, Dr Hamidah Hussain worked at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and BRAC in Bangladesh. 

Dr Hamidah Hussain obtained her MBBS from The Aga Khan University, her MSc in Health Policy, Planning, and Financing from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and her PhD in health economics from the University of Bergen, Norway.