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Volunteering and saving lives Meet Gul Mahoor, Community Health Relief Fund Manager

Volunteers often help bridge the gap between communities and the resources they need.

Gul Mahoor lives in Nasirabad, Pakistan and runs a small business supplying dried cherries from her farm to neighbouring cities. She also volunteers at a local women’s organization, where the members nominated her to manage the community’s health relief fund.

A few years ago, most local organizations were led by men in the community. But Gul thinks this is slowly changing, as more and more women like her have begun to run their own businesses and take on leadership positions.

In Nasirabad, there are no proper health facilities for pregnant women and their children. In emergency cases, families often do not have the funds needed to take the costly taxi trips to different towns for treatment.

As the manager of her community’s health relief fund, Gul helps families access micro-loans to seek urgent care.

She recalled an incident when a pregnant woman’s husband came to her at midnight for an emergency loan, because his wife was referred to a hospital in Gilgit city, over 80 kilometres away.

“Because of this fund, I was able to help that family, which led to the safe delivery of their newborn daughter,” said Gul.

Under her supervision, and thanks to her care and administration, over 90 women and their children have been supported through her community’s health relief fund.

"This fund has saved a lot of lives in my village."

Want to learn more? Watch this story about Razia, another health leader in Pakistan.

Watch more videos from our In A Heartbeat series to learn more about our work to support women leading the way for better health.

Read more about our current health programming in Pakistan.

Photo credits: Danial Shah / AKFC and Christopher Wilton-Steer / AKDN.