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Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, a former head of the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR and U.N. humanitarian envoy to Afghanistan, has died at age 70, his office said on Tuesday.
Sadruddin was uncle to the current Aga Khan, Karim, who is spiritual leader of the world's 15 million Ismaili Muslims.

A spokeswoman at his Geneva office confirmed he had died, but declined to give further details.

Swiss news agency ATS reported Sadruddin died in a Boston hospital in the United States on Monday after a long illness.

The Aga Khan, billionaire spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili sect of Islam, said he would expand microcredit schemes by offering other financial services such as insurance for poor people in developing countries.
A new non-profit microfinance agency would deliver micro-insurance, small housing loans, savings, education or health accounts, and study new ways of providing a range of financial services to poor communities, he announced.

'Loans to health and education can break down the barriers to access to those services for the poor,' the Aga Khan told journalists.

Foreword by His Highness the Aga Khan

Princess Salimah Aga Khan

$1.5 Million Goes To Bangladeshi NGO

Hilton Humanitarian Prize Of $1.5 Million Goes To Bangladeshi NGO
By Lisa Schlein Geneva17 October 2008
Sclein report - Download (MP3)
Sclein report - Listen (MP3)
The world's biggest humanitarian prize has been awarded to BRAC, the largest non-profit organization in the developing world. The 2008 Hilton Humanitarian Prize of $1.5 million honors BRAC, a Bangladeshi-based NGO, for its achievements in helping to eradicate poverty in nine Asian and African countries. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva where the award was announced.

31 May 2006 Geneva, Switerzland: His Highness the Aga Khan speaks at the luncheon marking the merger of the Bellerive Foundation and the Aga Khan Foundation as Princess Catherine looks on.