NUMS, Turkish varsity working jointly to treat leishmaniasis

RAWALPINDI:

The National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS) in collaboration with Turkish Ege University is working on a two-year joint research project on leishmaniasis, an endemic tropical disease that is a source of skin infection mostly in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Dr Shumaila Naz, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences of NUMS, said NUMS and Ege University are working jointly to diagnose and treat cutaneous leishmaniasis, a neglected tropical disease (NTD) that affects tens of millions of people worldwide.

The WHO NTD road map 2021-2030 establishes the need for a One Health approach, to address health risks at the animal-humanecosystems interface as an important tool for human and economic development. Pakistan Scientific Foundation and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (PSF-TUBITAK) are jointly funding the research project. TUBITAK and PSF are funding 10 other projects through their collaboration in six different fields like earth sciences, aeronautics, materials science, biotechnology, renewable energy and environmental science.