UHS to research on climate change-related diseases

LAHORE: The University of Health Sciences (UHS) has decided to make the environment and climate change a research agenda for the next three years, under which varsity’s teaching departments will give priority to research projects on health issues caused by environmental and climate change in its PhD, MPhil, Masters degree and undergraduate programmes.

In this regard, the university will collaborate with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, while agreements will also be made with universities and research institutions of Saarc countries.

While presiding over a meeting of heads of administrative and teaching departments at the Jinnah campus on Tuesday, UHS Vice-Chancellor Prof Ahsan Waheed Rathore said that Pakistan is suffering from the adverse effects of two weather systems and it’s time to rethink our priorities. He added that climate change was the single biggest health threat facing humanity, and health professionals worldwide were already responding to the health harms caused by this unfolding crisis. The university had a responsibility to support its people and government to deal with the adverse effects of climate change, he stressed.

“Institutes of higher education have a critical role to play in driving the scientific, political, technological, and cultural change needed to avoid the worst-case climate change scenarios, and in advancing the societal adaptive capacities needed to meet the ongoing challenges posed by the current environmental crises,” Professor Rathore opined.

UHS VC directed the teaching departments to focus on infection control, hospital waste disposal, and climate change-related diseases such as depression, sleep and breathing problems, kidney diseases, allergies, blood circulatory disorders, and infertility. He said that the Public Health Department will coordinate the research activities in this regard.

On this occasion, Professor Rathore also directed the faculty to start a diploma on environment and climate change. Matters related to post-graduate and undergraduate programmes were reviewed in the meeting. UHS VC said that he was not a big believer in the concept of the “state of the art” and wanted to go to the basics first keeping the cultural norms of the society in view. He added that communication skills and medical writing were being included in the curriculum at the undergraduate level.