Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) has come forward for the capacity building of provincial governments to develop methodologies that entail the utilization of radiation in one form or the other to tackle dengue.
PAEC Member Technical, Gulam Nabi said this while addressing the concluding ceremony of the 2nd Regional Dengue Workshop held here at the National Centre of Physics (NCP).
PAEC in collaboration with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) hosted the workshop from Oct 30 to Nov 3.
Researchers from various parts of the country participated in the workshop.
Local and International experts from various disciplines also shared their views on this subject. The aim of the workshop was to enable the participants to understand the mechanics involved in evolving a long term strategy towards dengue control.
While addressing the participants, Nabi said PAEC was one of those organizations that had paid back the nation through its unmatched services.
PAEC was proud of the good work and contribution made by its agricultural institutes which had gone a long way in developing high resistance seeds, pesticides and bio fertilizers, he said. PAEC Director General Hospitals, Dr Zubair Hassan said that IAEA’s involvement in controlling the dengue epidemic was due in large part to the development of a long term strategy.
There was palpable need to take tangible steps to ensure that in the future the risk of the disease was minimized, he said, while adding that “prevention is better than cure”.
Many strategies were discussed in Vienna last year, but Sterilization Insect Technique (SIT) was favored in view of its success stories, he said.
Experts urged the participants that the challenge was to find a way to continue this dialogue and not only continue it but to also expand it in the future.
PAEC asks govt to use radiation to eradicate dengue
