UVAS-Holds-A-Webinar-In-Connection-With-World-Zoonoses-Day

The UVAS Lahore In Collaboration With The Organization Of Zoonotic Diseases Awareness And Control (OZDAC) Observed The World Zoonoses Day.

The Department of Epidemiology and Public Health (EPH) of The University Of Veterinary And Animal Sciences (UVAS) Lahore In Collaboration With The Organization Of Zoonotic Diseases Awareness And Control (OZDAC) Observed The World Zoonoses Day and organised an international webinar on “Responsibilities of veterinarians in preventing the emerging zoonotic infections”.

Speakers from Pakistan, the UK, Hong Kong and the UAE attended the webinar through video link and highlighted the importance of emerging zoonotic infections and their control strategies to prevent future pandemics.

Speaking on the occasion, Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Nasim Ahmad said that the risk of zoonotic infections is increasing and such webinars are important to create awareness in public to better control the zoonotic diseases. He appreciated the efforts of Department of Epidemiology and Public Health and OZDAC for arranging this informative webinar on World Zoonosis Day.

Earlier, Chairman of the Department of EPH Prof Dr Hassan Mushtaq provided an overview on the epidemiology of rabies, a highly fatal disease, with special focus on lower-middle income countries. He spoke about the current status of the disease and the activities going on to eliminate the disease from Pakistan while Prof Dr Mamoona Chaudhary from UVAS’s Department of EPH delivered a lecture on avian influenza. She highlighted the possible role and responsibilities of veterinarians in controlling zoonotic diseases and upcoming pandemics.

Professor Olivier Sparagano from the City University of Hong Kong talked on “Vector-borne diseases and zoonoses: new risks and new solutions”, while Prof Dr Julian Parkhill from the University of Cambridge and Dr Furqan from UVAS highlighted the importance of AMR. Dr Ihab Habib from the United Arab Emirates University stressed on the role of food safety to control the transmission of pathogens from animals to humans. In the end, Dr. Amjad Khan from the University of Haripur, KP, spoke the current status of COVID-19 and its future perspectives in the country.