The 5th Science and Technology Exchange Program (STEP5) among Muslim nations, organized by Iran’s Mustafa Science and Technology Foundation (MSTF) at the University of Karachi will end today (Saturday).
Scientists, scholars and academia from the Muslim world and beyond converged for STEP5 in the capital of the Pakistani province of Sindh between Feb. 27 and March 2 to pool minds and find new and effective ways to boost academic collaboration, the MSTF press office reported.
Scientists from 23 countries including Malaysia, Oman, Egypt, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Bahrain, India, Kuwait, Singapore and the UAE were in attendance.
Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary, director of Pakistan’s International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), addressed the opening ceremony and underscored the increasing role of women scientists in Muslim nations.
Nadira Panjwani, Pakistani philanthropist and former caretaker provincial minister of Sindh, welcomed participants and said joint scientific efforts between Muslims can help address the variety of their problems, especially in healthcare and medical services.
Pakistani scientist Atta-Ur-Rahman was also among the speakers. He served as Pakistan’s science minister from March 2000 and September 2002 and is the co-chair of the UN Committee on Science, Technology, and Innovation for United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
He said the gathering was an opportunity for expanding scientific collaboration, adding, “Japan is spending five times more than the whole Islamic world on R&D,” clearly suggesting that Muslim governments need to catch up in the key sector and in the interest of their peoples.
Lectures and Panels
On the 2nd and 3rd day of the event lectures and panel discussions were held, one of which was about non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
According to the World Health Organization, NCDs kill 41 million people each year, equivalent to 71% of all deaths globally. Also known as chronic diseases, NCDs tend to be of long duration and are the result of a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behavioral factors. The main types of NCDs are cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes.
Scientists from 23 nations including Malaysia, Oman, Egypt, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Bahrain, India, Kuwait, Singapore and the UAE participated in the four-day event
Iranian scientist Mohammad Noorbakhsh discussed solutions neurosciences provide for curing some types of NCDs. He suggested that there is a link between some NCDs and mental disorders.
“Disregarding public mental health, can lead to delayed diagnosis or inappropriate treatment of physical conditions as well … People suffering from NCDs are also prone to various mental disorders like depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).”
According to Noorbakhsh, monitoring patients’ mental health should become part of healthcare programs.
Yasemin Gursoy Ozdemir, director of Health Sciences Graduate School, at Istanbul’s Koc University, gave a lecture on “Headache: Novel Treatment Strategies”.
Timothea Toulopoulou, a lecturer from Ankara’s Bilkent University, talked about schizophrenia.
Ilkay Erdogan Orhan, director of Pharmacy Faculty of Gazi University in Turkey gave a lecture about herbal medicine and their use in curing NCDs.
Norlijah Othman, from Malaysia’s University Putra, gave a lecture on HIV treatment. She said in the early HIV epidemics, the prevalence was low in Muslim-majority countries; however, 30 years into the epidemic, the number of diagnosed cases in these countries has increased significantly. “More effective measures are needed to curb the high HIV numbers.”
Previous Rounds
The previous round of the event dubbed STEP4 was held in December 2018 at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat.
STEP was launched in 2015 by the MSTF to forge meaningful ties between Muslim scientists and help enhance academic and technological collaboration in the Muslim world. The two earlier programs were held in Malaysia and Iran.
The gathering is an annual event, but upon the request of the University of Karachi, instead of December, the extraordinary session (STEP5) was held in late February.
