Introduction
Centre for Health & Population Studies (CHPS), Pakistan, is a public health teaching and research facility established in the private sector in Pakistan in 1999. It is headquartered at 2/5-A, Chamba Lane, G.O.R.-I, Lahore, with an operational office at Chatha Bakhtawar (just beyond Chak Shahzad), Park Road, Islamabad. Its parent company called Zarina Yazdani Khan (ZYK) Alliance is registered under the Private Companies Act with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) since 2000.
The primary aim of CHPS is to be a centre of excellence for the supply of specialized human resource as well as generation of research based evidence in the field of public health and allied health sciences in the country. It conducts post-graduation in the field of Public Health and also offers short courses and workshops in different areas of health management and allied subjects. Since 1999, CHPS has trained over 30 medics and non-medics in Master in Public Health (MPH), Master in Hospital Administration (MHA) and issued degrees through its accreditation with Al-Khair University, Pakistan. It has conducted short trainings all over Pakistan including remote areas like Skardu (Baltistan) in topics related to Reproductive Health (RH), Sexual & RH rights, gender, Population Policy, Health management, safe motherhood etc.
In research, CHPS specializes in conducting local level and national level research as well as monitoring and evaluation (short or long term) and developing systems. During disaster and post-disaster situations, CHPS has the capacity to conduct trainings, research and develop projects. To date, it has produced more than 15 research studies on topics ranging from Maternal Health, S&RHRs, HIV/AIDs etc.: at least 2 of the studies are related to women’s situation and maternal health following the 2005 earthquake in northern Pakistan.
Remaining committed to the vision of partnering in the development of an equitable society, twice a month CHPS disseminates information regarding international events e.g. calls/requests for proposals/research, job opportunities, recent publications, upcoming conferences etc. through the CHPS newsletter to a worldwide audience of over 2000 professionals working in the development sector. This information is collected through subscribing to over a 100 newsletters worldwide.
CHPS has attained a remarkable standard and reputation, attracting internees and faculty from abroad including Philippines, India and the USA.
CHPS has also been short listed as a research organization for commissioned tenders by Research and Advocacy Fund (RAF), Pakistan. Almost 156 organizations sent in an EOI and 38 were short-listed. Of the 38, 14 were short listed for advocacy and 24 for research. The selection method involved a review by both national and international oversight committees.
