The Sehat Kahani Harvard case study is a landmark moment for Pakistan’s startup ecosystem. In January 2026, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health published a formal teaching case titled Sehat Kahani: Digital Health Transformation in Pakistan, shining an international spotlight on a Karachi-born telemedicine platform co-founded by two women doctors. For a country still working to establish its startup credibility on the world stage, this recognition carries real weight.
What the Sehat Kahani Harvard Case Study Actually Says
The case was authored by Bukhtawar Azhar, Che L. Reddy, and Professor Rifat Atun, and it covers the company’s founding story, its critical strategic pivots, its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its plans for expansion into other low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). It is now actively used at Harvard as a teaching resource on digital health innovation and inclusive healthcare delivery. The case prominently features both co-founders and presents Sehat Kahani as a model for how technology can solve deeply rooted social and systemic health problems in emerging markets.
Dr. Iffat Zafar Aga, the company’s COO, noted on LinkedIn that the process behind this Sehat Kahani Harvard case study took more than 2.5 years of conversations, reflections, and careful documentation of the company’s journey. That timeline alone signals just how seriously Harvard approached this as an academic subject, not a quick profile.
The Problem Sehat Kahani Was Built to Solve
To understand why this case study resonates globally, you have to understand the specific problem Sehat Kahani was designed to fix. In Pakistan, more than 80 percent of medical students are female, yet only about 40 percent of them continue practising medicine after marriage. Cultural expectations, rigid hospital hours, and family pressures push thousands of qualified women doctors out of the workforce every year. This creates a painful double crisis: a shortage of practising doctors in a country of over 220 million people, and a massive waste of trained medical talent.
Sehat Kahani, which translates roughly to ‘health story’, was built to address both sides of that equation at once. The platform employs women doctors who work from home, providing telehealth services to patients across Pakistan, particularly in rural areas that are severely short of qualified healthcare providers.
Who Founded Sehat Kahani
Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram and Dr. Iffat Zafar Aga co-founded the platform in February 2017 as a for-profit venture. Dr. Khurram, the CEO, has over a decade of experience in digital healthcare and led the company’s vision, fundraising, and partnerships. She is also an Ashoka Changemaker and was named a Rolex Awards for Enterprise Associate Laureate in 2019. Dr. Iffat Zafar Aga, the COO, holds an MBBS from Ziauddin Medical University and an MSc in Global E-Health from the University of Edinburgh, and she has built and scaled seven key verticals within the business, including e-clinics, mobile app services, B2B offerings, and home healthcare.
Together, they made Sehat Kahani the first all-female-led Pakistani startup to close a Series A funding round, raising $2.7 million led by Singapore-based health tech fund Amaanah Circle. That round also brought in investors including Epic Angels, USAID Investment Promotion Activity, and the Elahi Group of Companies.
The Scale Sehat Kahani Has Reached
The numbers behind the Sehat Kahani Harvard case study are significant. The platform’s mobile application is used by patients in over 310 cities and towns across Pakistan, more than 800 corporations use it for employee health benefits, and the company operates 62 e-health clinics nationwide. Its network covers over 7,500 healthcare professionals globally, and the platform has delivered more than 2.6 million consultations to date. In the three years leading up to the Harvard recognition, Sehat Kahani recorded an average year-on-year growth rate of 141 percent, with five times cumulative growth in consultations in the post-COVID era alone.
The hybrid model is a key part of the story. Rather than being a pure app play, Sehat Kahani pairs its mobile platform with nurse-assisted physical e-clinics in rural and semi-urban areas, making access possible even for patients with low digital literacy or limited smartphone use. The company also offers on-demand at-home laboratory services and online medicine delivery, creating a more complete primary care loop.
Why This Matters for Pakistan’s Startup Credibility
Getting featured in a Sehat Kahani Harvard case study is not a marketing achievement. Harvard’s case-based teaching method is one of the most rigorous academic traditions in global business and public health education. A Harvard teaching case means that graduate students at one of the world’s most influential institutions will now study Pakistan’s healthcare and startup landscape as a reference point for digital health innovation in LMICs.
This matters beyond Sehat Kahani itself. It sends a signal to global investors, academic institutions, and policy researchers that Pakistani founders are building solutions sophisticated enough to be studied at the highest levels of academia. At a time when Pakistan’s startup ecosystem has faced funding headwinds, this kind of credibility is rare and valuable.
It also reinforces the broader argument that women-led ventures in Pakistan are not edge cases. They are producing scalable, impactful businesses that solve real problems, attract international capital, and earn recognition from institutions like Harvard. For young female founders navigating a difficult funding environment, that is a meaningful precedent.
Sehat Kahani has also signalled plans to expand into the Middle East and North Africa region, where demand for telemedicine is growing. If the Harvard recognition helps accelerate those partnerships, the platform’s impact could stretch well beyond Pakistan’s borders.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Sehat Kahani Harvard case study?
The Sehat Kahani Harvard case study, published in January 2026 by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, is a formal academic teaching case titled Sehat Kahani: Digital Health Transformation in Pakistan. It was authored by Bukhtawar Azhar, Che L. Reddy, and Professor Rifat Atun, and covers the company’s founding, strategy, COVID-era response, and LMIC expansion plans. It is used at Harvard to teach digital health innovation.
Who are the founders of Sehat Kahani?
Sehat Kahani was co-founded in 2017 by Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram, who serves as CEO, and Dr. Iffat Zafar Aga, who serves as COO. Both are trained physicians based in Karachi. They built Sehat Kahani to address Pakistan’s ‘doctor bride’ phenomenon and the shortage of healthcare access in rural communities.
How big is Sehat Kahani’s network?
As of its last disclosed figures, Sehat Kahani operates across more than 310 cities and towns in Pakistan, serves over 800 corporate clients, runs 62 e-health clinics, and works with a network of over 7,500 healthcare professionals. The platform has delivered more than 2.6 million consultations in total.
What does this Harvard recognition mean for Pakistan’s tech and startup scene?
Being featured in a Harvard teaching case places Pakistan’s healthtech sector in front of global graduate students, researchers, and policymakers at one of the world’s top academic institutions. It strengthens the credibility of Pakistan’s startup ecosystem internationally and demonstrates that women-led Pakistani startups can reach the highest levels of global academic recognition.
