About

Dr. Aziz Baig is a medical doctor with a postgraduate degree in Public Health and over two decades of experience leading humanitarian health initiatives in some of the world’s most fragile and conflict-affected regions.

Originally from Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan and later moved to the United States, Dr. Baig’s passion for a career in global health started in early childhood when he faced personal tragedy. As a teenager, he watched his one year old brother succumb to suspected cholera, an entirely preventable disease that occurred due to the lack of transportation and prevalent myths about rehydration during diarrheal illness. Just a few years after graduating from medical school, he endured another tragedy when he lost his mother to late stage uterine cancer. These personal tragedies cemented his lifelong mission: to prevent other families from enduring similar losses by expanding essential healthcare for mothers and children in lower-resource settings.

Since 2004, Dr. Baig has worked in the field of global health in more than 10 countries across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and North America. He began his international career in Afghanistan, a country that had the highest reported maternal mortality rate in the world at the time. There, he spent more than a decade and supported the Ministry of Public Health by leading health programs for several humanitarian organizations including the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). His work focused on delivering primary healthcare services to the most vulnerable and remote areas in the country.

Throughout his career, Dr. Baig has consistently focused on a humanitarian development nexus approach enabling the design and implementation of simultaneous humanitarian, early recovery, and development interventions. His work focuses on building the capacity of local health systems and empowering local institutions to take ownership of their own initiatives. This focus has given him deep expertise through his work in numerous conflict-affected countries. He played a vital role in emergency healthcare responses and reconstruction following the 2005 earthquake in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, and addressed the immediate health and nutrition needs of internally displaced populations in Borno State, Nigeria. He also worked with refugees and war-affected populations in Syria and Iraq. In 2022, he was involved in executing multi-million-dollar healthcare programs in Ukraine, particularly in frontline states that were under war.

Dr. Baig's drive for humanitarian work has often landed him directly in the middle of active conflict zones known for their volatility and unpredictable security. His time in Afghanistan serves as a stark example of this danger. In 2004, while working in Badakhshan, he and two other colleagues were kidnapped during an attack on their office but fortunately, the local community leaders intervened and they were released unharmed. In another incident, he survived a hand grenade attack on his guest house sustaining only minor injuries. Instead of being scared and abandoning his mission, these life-threatening events only strengthened his resolve to keep serving the world's most vulnerable people in the toughest situations.

In addition to his fieldwork, Dr. Baig is also an accomplished author and has contributed to a wide range of publications, including major medical journals and renowned newspapers such as The Huffington Post. He is currently writing a book on emergency healthcare delivery in post-conflict zones  which will be based on his extensive practical experience working in humanitarian emergencies across more than 10 countries.

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