Karachi: Makkiya Javed, a 26-years–old belonging to a family where women were never allowed to study more than the 12th grade not just completed her Masters but went on to represent Pakistan on an international forum winning the World Bank Youth Summit.
Born and raised in a conservative family, where girls were married off as soon as they completed the 12th Grade, Makkiya knew she wanted something different for herself. Speaking to ARY News, Makkiya said: “I am the first girl in my family who not only completed the 12th grade but went on to do my Masters in Health Policy Management from Aga Khan University.”
Recently, Makkiya won the World Bank Youth Summit for her tole in the field of telemedicine through “Sehat Kahaani,” an initiative to make sure that there is no person in Pakistan who does not have access to healthcare.
“We at Sehat Kahani connect female doctors to the communities who do not have access to healthcare. Sehat Kahani democratizes healthcare by creating an all-female provider network whose work is to give jobs to female doctors and facilitate patients who have no access to healthcare.”
In the mid of 2017, World Bank opened applications for the Youth Summit in which 600 people applied from around the world with 6 applicants chosen and only one winner, Pakistan’s Makkiya Javed.
Makkiya says she dreamt of this day since she was a little child, “Somewhere in my childhood, I saw this dream that I walk in into this big organization, pitch in an idea, and I will be the person people are going to applaud for. I always had this dream to be someone, be the voice for someone, and do something which affects the life of people.”
Makkiya firmly believes that to achieve something one has to get up every time they fall, “Never give up. Be so resilient that no matter how many times you fall you say that you have to get up again. There is nothing that you work hard for which will not be rewarded for.”
