AHD wins share of $1m global Healthcare Innovation Award.
Observer Report Islamabad The Association for Humanitarian Development (AHD), a Hyderabad-based community organisation, has been awarded US$320,000 for a biological water-filtering initiative that provides hundreds of thousands of families with clean water.
The Pakistani group is one of four worldwide to have won a share of the 2017 Healthcare Innovation Award, funded by global healthcare company Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK).
The discussion covered the challenge of providing safe drinking water, how AHD’s innovation could be scaled to reach more people and the potential for it to spur other innovative health initiatives in Pakistan.
Currently, many rural communities in Pakistan have to drink contaminated water.
To expand access to safe water, AHD introduced a simple and replicable bio-sand water filter, known as a “Nadi” filter, to hundreds of vulnerable villages.
The filter is sourced and constructed from locally available materials, meaning that one unit, which serves a household of eight to ten people, costs just Rs 1,000-1,500.
Since launching in 2007, the Nadi Filter has provided clean and safe drinking water to 400,000 households.
A Khurshid Bhatti, Founder and CEO, AHD: “We are honoured to receive this Award in recognition of our efforts.
This ensures the Nadi filter remains available at a low-cost and can be adopted by families across the country.” Azizul Huq, Vice President and General Manager, GSK Pakistan: “The Nadi filter is a fantastic innovation, which can be easily replicated across Pakistan.