{"id":517,"date":"2014-08-27T20:55:04","date_gmt":"2014-08-27T20:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?p=517"},"modified":"2014-08-27T20:55:04","modified_gmt":"2014-08-27T20:55:04","slug":"our-journey-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?p=517","title":{"rendered":"Our Journey Begins"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

\"BillOur trip started out on an adventurous note, with a political diversion to Lahore for 15 hours and eventually arriving in Islamabad 15 hours later than expected. We caught a few hours sleep and then drove up the Karakorum Highway (KKH) for 2 days with many army roadblocks along the way.<\/p>\n

On arrival in Gilgit<\/a>, we had a very productive meeting with Dr. Zaeem Zia, a John Hopkins trained local physician who was conducting a series of training sessions for village medical technicians. Dr. Zia has been very supportive of our work in Hunza.<\/p>\n

We both felt a great sense of calm as soon as we arrived in Karimibad (Hunza). That magnificent vista down valley towards Rakaposhi<\/a>, the cooler and less polluted air and the great hospitality of the Hunza people worked wonders in relaxing and comforting our exhausted aching, aging bodies!<\/p>\n

We got the opportunity the first evening in Karimibad to meet the chairman and some board members of KADO<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The following morning, I had a productive meeting with Ms Zadia Zia the current Minister of Tourism for Gilgit\/Baltistan. We discussed ways to improve the travel experience for western tourists visiting Hunza and ways to encourage more visitors to come in a safer way. We discussed the possibilities of coming in from Kashgar on the China side. She had indicated that preliminary talks had already taken place to develop a more active tourist corridor between Kashgar and Hunza. Improving the economic status of the residents of Hunza through improving employment in the tourism area would help improve the overall health of the people of Hunza. Hunza has a large number of well educated young adults that would thrive in a robust tourism economy. This would keep more young adults in the Hunza area and reduce the need to travel to the cities for low paying jobs.<\/p>\n

We then had a meeting in Aliabad with Amjad (Chairman), Mubeen (CEO) and other members of the KADO team to discuss our work plan. Many good ideas\/recommendations came from this meeting<\/p>\n

KADO agreed to allow Imran Khan travel with us as interpreter and guide. Imran was a great asset to our team and worked diligently to make the trip successful.<\/p>\n

We then met with the Government of Pakistan District Health Officer Dr. Sher Hafiz. We discussed many local health issues and ways we could work collaboratively in the future. In particular, we discussed the TB<\/a> situation in the Shimshal Valley and discussed previous studies, the estimated prevalence and possible ways we could work together to try to eliminate the problem from the Shimshal Valley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our trip started out on an adventurous note, with a political diversion to Lahore for 15 hours and eventually arriving in Islamabad 15 hours later than expected. We caught a few hours sleep and then drove up the Karakorum Highway … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[24,29,14,27,22],"class_list":["post-517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-humanitarian","tag-hunza","tag-medicine-in-remote-locations","tag-pakistan","tag-world-travels"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/ngg_featured\/2014-06-28_21-13-29.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4UPJH-8l","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":510,"url":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?p=510","url_meta":{"origin":517,"position":0},"title":"Hunza, Pakistan – June\/July 2014","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"27 August 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In June\/July 2014, Dr. Bill Hanlon, Founder and Medical Director of Basic Health International Foundation returned to Hunza in north east Pakistan to build on existing medical programs and expand it\u2019s work into more remote areas such as the Shimshal summer pastures at 4700m, Chipursan Valley (3500m), Misgar Valley (3075m)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Fundraising\"","block_context":{"text":"Fundraising","link":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?tag=fundraising"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/basichealthinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/ngg_featured\/2014-06-28_22-45-10.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/basichealthinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/ngg_featured\/2014-06-28_22-45-10.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/basichealthinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/ngg_featured\/2014-06-28_22-45-10.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":562,"url":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?p=562","url_meta":{"origin":517,"position":1},"title":"On Our Way","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"11 September 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"..... And then it was time to return home. We reviewed our whole trip and discussed the implementation of our recommendations. We met with the KADO solar panel project manager and donated a solar lantern for their review and modification. These excellent LED lanterns were designed and donated by Faith\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"e-health\"","block_context":{"text":"e-health","link":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?tag=e-health"},"img":{"alt_text":"Clouds over Thapopdan massif, above village of Passu, Hunza Valley, Karakoram range, Pakistan","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/basichealthinternational.org\/wp-content\/gallery\/pakistan-2014\/2014-07-13_04-15-00.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":567,"url":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?p=567","url_meta":{"origin":517,"position":2},"title":"Medicine in the High Pamir","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"8 March 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\"As a teenager growing up in small town Ireland in the 1970's, I was fascinated by the adventures of Marco Polo and the 13th century caravans of explorers, traders, and pilgrims who traveled the Silk Road linking Europe with Asia. 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We met some local members of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"e-health\"","block_context":{"text":"e-health","link":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?tag=e-health"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/basichealthinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/ngg_featured\/2014-07-11_01-56-03.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/basichealthinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/ngg_featured\/2014-07-11_01-56-03.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/basichealthinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/ngg_featured\/2014-07-11_01-56-03.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":520,"url":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?p=520","url_meta":{"origin":517,"position":4},"title":"A Visit with Alam Jan Dario, eHealth, Schools, Community Health and More","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"28 August 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The following day we crossed the Atabad Lake heading north to Shimshal. We had a good meeting with the director of the KADO IT Centre in Gulmit. We met with a new class of young students who were participating in a business IT program. 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