Allow me to place a second proposition before you. It is that the satisfaction of needs for medicine, food, education, and housing, even if accomplished, is not enough for the health of any community or society. Values and ideals, and the identities to which they relate and give form, have always been important for humankind. They give direction and points of reference in the face of rapid change. Successful development requires community engagement and mobilisation, but it also needs to occur in a cultural context which preserves individual local values and ideals.
Culture takes many forms and is expressed in many ways.
The three-dimensional, physical aspect of a particular cultural context is architecture. Maintaining cultural identity and tradition in the physical environment is a central and integral part of preserving the identity of a place or a community, and it is the physical environment that is most directly affected by rapid change. The Aga Khan Health Services have provided primary health care to a large number of people, improving health management and making secondary health care available to many. The Aga Khan Education Services have provided modern schooling to youngsters, particularly girls, who did not have access to it before, and have improved teaching standards. While I cannot list them in detail, I want to give my warmest thanks and public recognition to all those agencies, many of which are represented here today.