Ahsan Iqbal calls for adoption of innovative modern technologies to boost livestock in Pakistan
LAHORE (14-03-23): The Department of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences (UVAS) Lahore in collaboration with Higher Education Commission (HEC) and under the umbrella of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) arranged two-day International Conference on Health Security (ICHS) at Flatties Hotal Lahore.
Federal Minister of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Mr Ahsan Iqbal presided over the inaugural session of the conference while Advisor Higher Education Commission (CPEC) Lt Gen (R) Muhammad Asghar, Secretary Livestock & Dairy Development Department Punjab Muhammad Masood Anwar, UVAS Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Nasim Ahmad (SI), Vice-Chancellor University of Education Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha, Member Production Sector Wing Planning & Development Board Punjab Aslam Jawed, Former Advisor Health Suhail Saqlain, Director General CPEC (HEC) Dr Safdar Ali Shah, Organizing Secretary ICHS Conference Prof Dr Aneela Zameer Durrani, Former UVAS Vice-Chancellors Prof Dr Manzoor Ahmad and Prof Dr Muhammad Nawaz while renowned veterinary & medical practitioners, scholars, researchers, academicians experts from different countries, including Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA and all over the Pakistan are participating physically and virtually in ICHS. Earlier Mr Ahsan Iqbal along with Prof Dr Nasim Ahmad and other dignitaries inaugurated the conference.
Addressing the audience in the inauguration ceremony, Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal stressed on the adoption of innovative modern technologies & practices to boost livestock sector in Pakistan. He said it is direly needed to enhance milk production through innovative research and proper farm management. He said academia should work with industry to implement its innovative ideas. He said it is necessary to focus on enhancing our agriculture production and export of livestock, dairy & poultry products to other countries. He said our country has been badly affected due to climate change, even last year our poor livestock farming community faced heavy economic losses (animals, crops and houses) due to heavy flood. He hoped that through this conference recommendation will be developed by experts which will be key to making strategies/policies for a batter future. He congratulated UVAS and its leadership on arranging such an informative conference to address health related issues.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof Dr Nasim Ahmad said that conference focuses on zoonosis, rabies disease, climate change environment, food security and safety, water scarcity and management, stunting and food wasting, human health and trade facilitation, etc. He said temperature is rising alarmingly, glaciers are melting fast and we face flood disasters almost every year in Pakistan. He said water scarcity is turning into a big crisis and the River Ravi is almost dry and probably the most polluted in the world. He said we are facing with twin challenges of food security and safety and our agriculture production has almost become stagnant but our population is growing with the same pace. He mentioned malnutrition, stunting in school going children and food wasting are significantly higher in our country even inspite of this alarming situation, how do we expect our kids and youth become useful citizens for their homeland. He said UVAS played a vital role in the fight against Corona pandemic, established a BSL 3 diagnostic lab, tested over seven lakh Corona samples and helped in identifying and tracking the spread of the virus, enabling authorities to control its spread. He also said that UVAS played an active role in flood relief activities during last year and our volunteer teams comprised of students who performed relief activities in all the four provinces in transparent manners.
Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha said that livestock is the major source of nutrition in Pakistan so it is direly needed to provide maximum vaccination and treatment facilities to poor livestock farming community at their door steps. Prof Dr Aneela Zameer Durrani presented the vote of thanks.
Lt Gen (R) Muhammad Asghar said that there are ample opportunities in CPEC for business, working together with Chinese to learn from each other experiences and knowledge. The Secretary Livestock said that there are many challenges in Pakistan like nutrition to cater the needs for growing population in Pakistan, climate change, foot and mouth disease, food safety & security, meat export and conference will be beneficial for making policies, which will be key to address such issues in Pakistan.
The purpose of the conference was to align with one health principle of inter relationship between animal, soil and environment. Employing an interdisciplinary approach involving animal scientist, geneticist, nutritionist, environmentalist, animal welfares’, animal virologist and other health related fields of study to assess and apply objective methods to optimize the wellbeing of man, animal and its environment.
Theme of the conference is health matters and it is focused on activities required to minimize the danger and impact of acute public health events that endanger people health across all geographical boundaries. The conference is consists of 10 technical sessions, poster competition while stalls have also been set up by industry partners.
