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Arfa Kareem

Arfa Abdul Karim Randhawa (Urdu: ارفع کریم رندهاوا‎, 2 February 1995 – 14 January 2012) was a Pakistani student and computer prodigy, who in 2004 at the age of nine years becameMicrosoft Certified Professional (MCP), the youngest in the world until 2008. She was invited by Bill Gates to visit the Microsoft Headquarters in the USA. A science park in Lahore was named after her, the Arfa Software Technology Park.

Arfa Abdul Karim has represented Pakistan on various international forums, and was invited by the Pakistan Information Technology Professionals Forum for a stay of two weeks in Dubai. A dinner reception was hosted for her there, which was attended by the dignitaries of Dubai including the Ambassador of Pakistan. During that trip, Arfa was presented with various awards and gifts including a laptop. In November 2006, Arfa attended the Tech-Ed Developers conference themed Get ahead of the game held in Barcelona on an invitation from Microsoft. She was the only Pakistani among over 5000 developers in that conference

In 2011, at the age of 16, Arfa Abdul Karim was studying at the Lahore Grammar School Paragon Campus in her second year of A-levels. On 22 December 2011 she suffered a cardiac arrest after an epileptic seizure that damaged her brain, and was admitted to Lahore's Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in critical condition.

On 9 January 2012, Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, contacted Arfa's parents and directed his doctors to adopt "every kind of measure" for her treatment. Gates set up a special panel of international doctors who remained in contact with her local doctors through teleconference. The panel received details about her illness and provided assistance in diagnosis and treatment. Local doctors dismissed the option of moving Arfa to another hospital owing to her being on a ventilator and in critical condition. Members of Arfa's family have lauded Bill Gates for offering to bear her treatment expenses.

On 13 January 2012, Arfa Abdul Karim started to improve and some parts of her brain showed signs of improvement. Her father, Amjad Abdul Karim Randhawa, said Microsoft had raised the possibility of flying Arfa to the US for care.

On 14 January 2012, 16-year-old Arfa Abdul Karim died at 9:50 PM (Pakistan Standard Time) at Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Lahore.