The world is witnessing the unprecedented outbreak of zoonotic diseases due to a novel coronavirus COVID-19 which has really shaken the world in terms of its impact on Public health specifically and global economy in general by taking out trillions of dollars.
At the same time we are having a very scientific event in Islamabad focusing on the challenges of Energy, Food Security, Nutrition & Zoonotic Diseases faced by the global community in general and low & middle income countries (LMICs) in particular.
The event will be attended by over 150 scientists from UK, regional countries and Pakistan. It will be a great opportunity for all the participants as well the host Pakistan to take full use of the consortia of well-known scientists from UK, region and Pakistan.
We believe that research, innovation, and discovery are the main activities of Higher Education and Pakistan, like many other countries are facing a number of challenges, in the light of growing needs of its increasing population and need for urgent solutions by effectively engaging the brain power of its human resource.
With this background, event is jointly organized by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) & UK-Pakistan Science and Innovation Global Network (UPSIGN) on 9-10 March, 2020 in Marriott Hotel, Islamabad.
The highlights of the event are the Plenary Talk by Dr. Sania Nishtar-Special Assistant to the PM of Pakistan on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar and talks by the greats of their respective fields Brendan Wren- London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Nicola Lowe-University of Central Lancashire, Jonathan West-Rothamsted Research, Colin Berry-Cardiff University, Martin R. Broadley-University of Nottingham, Munir Iqbal, The Pirbright Institute, Lisa Boden, University of Edinburgh & many other eminent scholars.
It is envisioned that this event will foster the global collaborative initiatives which will facilitate to harness interdisciplinary–multisector partnerships between Academia (Pakistan-UK Universities/Institutes as well as Industry to address the challenges of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by improved food supply chain to meet the needs of ever increasing global population, energy, improve nutritious value, sustain & promote agriculture and livestock sector performance.
In particular, it will create opportunities to develop new generation of vaccines, avoiding major disadvantages of the conventional chemical methods, considerably reducing costs, and improving the reproducibility of the product obtained.
The presence of globally renowned authorities on the subject will certainly add great value to better understand and address global challenges of Food security, Nutrition Livestock diseases.
In short, the conundrum of feeding global population by addressing challenges at multiple levels ranging from sustained food supply loaded with important micro and macro nutrients, developing effective diagnostic strategies and interventions (vaccines) to improve the health status of livestock as well as preventing zoonotic and emerging diseases that integrate veterinary and human medicine (the One Health paradigm) will be the highlight of event.
The author of this article Dr Habib Bokhari is a Fellow of Commonwealth & Fulbright. He is Professor of Microbiology & Immunology and Chairman of Department of Biosciences at COMSATS University, Islamabad