First-ever BS nutrition programme in Sindh starts at DUHS

Karachi
The Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) has started the first-ever programme in the field of nutrition and dietetics in Sindh that will help to produce human resource and expertise in these areas.
Nutrition and dietetics is the most neglected public health domain in Pakistan.
An orientation ceremony was organised to brief the participant about the degree programme, which has been started by the DUHS at its School of Public Health, Ojha Campus.
Prof Mohammad Iqbal Khan, vice chancellor of the Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University of Islamabad, while speaking as chief guest at the ceremony, said malnutrition and food insecurity was high in the national agenda and therefore nutrition education was very important for public health and healthcare services in any civilised and developing nation.
He said more resources and manpower must be allocated for education and training of nutrition professionals and expertise to alleviate the high rate of malnutrition in Pakistan, especially in Sindh.
He congratulated Prof Masood Hameed, vice chancellor of the DUHS, and said it was a landmark step to initiate the first-ever degree programme in nutritional sciences both at graduate and undergraduate levels in the entire province.
Prof Masood Hameed Khan said he was very pleased to see that Dow University had become a centre of excellence in Pakistan and the region for education, research and service in the field of public health and it was paving the path to produce nutrition & dietetics professionals by starting various degree programmes in the nutritional sciences discipline.
He added that the DUHS since its inception was focused on producing public health professionals who would be critical thinkers and equipped with knowledge, attitude and skills to address public health problems at policy formulation, programme implementation, programme monitoring and evaluation with an emphasis on research and development that was useful to the community at large.
According to the vice chancellor, this aim will be achieved through state of the art and innovative educational strategies involving a variety of learning and teaching methods, including use of advanced educational electronic technologies at the university. Dr Kashif Shafique, vice dean of the School of Public Health, in his welcome address, welcomed the first batch of 26 students of Bachelor of Science (BS).
He also apprised the audience about the various other programmes that were currently offered at the School of Public Health, including MSPH in nutrition, social and behavioural science, health policy and management, master’s of public health, master’s of science in biostatistics and epidemiology and PhD in public health.