MULTAN:The Department of Pathobiology at Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) organized a one-day workshop on Zoonoses — infectious diseases transmitted from animals to humans — in in ‘One Health Perspective’.
BZU Vice Chancellor Dr. Mansoor Akbar Kundi presided over the inaugural session while Dean Faculty of Veterinary Sciences Dr. Masood Akhtar was the Patron of the event,
and Dr. Mian Muhammad Awais was the Chief organizer of the workshop.
The workshop was held in connection with an HEC funded project “Molecular Profiling of Zoonotic Enteropathogens at animal-human-environment interface in Cholistan Desert: A way to formulate veterinary and public health policies through one health approach”.
The workshop focused on how to disseminate the findings of the project with stakeholders from academia, research,and healthcare settings.
The major objective of this event was to highlight the concept of ‘one health’ to bring the
veterinarians, medical practitioners, and other health experts under one roof to share, think,
discuss, and rule out the possibilities to save the human and animal populations from this
important zoonotic threat in Cholistan lacking safe drinking water supplies.
The event proved to be an important platform to update and influence the participants through a programme of presentations and discussions addressing critical aspects of zoonotic threats associated with zoonotic enteropathogens in the livestock sector and human population, with particular emphasis on its prevention and control.
A practical session on the infectious bio waste disposal using a biological waste incinerator was also arranged for hands-on training of the participants.
Chairman Department of Pathobiology Dr. M. Irfan Anwar welcomed the guests, resource persons and participants. The Chief organizer shared the objectives of the workshop followed by addresses of Dean FVS and VC Dr Kundi, who lauded the faculty efforts in furthering the academic and research work.
Dr Masood AKhtar highlighted the importance of zoonotic diseases which are transmitted from animals to human beings and appreciated Dr. Awais for taking this initiative for the most neglected region of Cholistan.
The resource persons included Dr. Mamoona Chaudhry from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at UVAS, Lahore, Head of National Reference Laboratory, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, Germany Dr. Hosny EL-ADAWY, Dr. Iahtasham Khan from the Department of Clinical Sciences at College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Jhang, One Health expert/Biosafety Consultant Shahida Mumtaz Qureshi, Ex-Manager of Agha Khan University Labs, Karachi Dr. Muhammad Irfan Anwar, Dr. M. Kashif Saleemi from the BZU, and Dr. M. Raza Hameed from the UAF.