Vigilance needed to avert spread of bird flu to humans

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By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 14.05.2024 (SciDev.Net): Health experts are calling for tighter biosecurity measures in global poultry production, from farms to markets, to monitor bird flu (avian influenza) following its spread among dairy cows in the United States.

Since 2003, 888 cases of human infection with the avian influenza virus, also known as H5N1, have been reported from 23 countries, of which 463 were fatal, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia are among the worst affected.

“Although the number may appear not as big as many other outbreaks, we need to bear in mind that each infection in humans is an attempt of the virus to try to establish itself in [the] human population,” says Wenqing Zhang, head of the WHO’s global influenza programme, in a video released this week (Monday). “Although the chances are slim so far, as long as it succeeds just once, it is a start of an influenza pandemic…”

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Crisis-hit Sri Lanka seeks ‘value-add’ with research

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By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 29.04.2024 (SciDev.Net): Crisis-hit Sri Lanka is focusing its research funding this year on projects that can generate direct economic benefits for the country, build capacity, and enhance human resource development, according to the chief executive of its National Research Council (NRC).

“We will be providing grants to projects that value-add to natural resources and minerals in the country, renewable energy, agriculture, climate change and food security, and medical research,” says NRC’s Chief Executive Officer Shanika Jayasekera.

Sri Lanka has been hit by acute inflation and a lack of foreign investment that has led to dramatic cuts in research funding and a crisis in its healthcare system.

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Philippine research model targets ‘real-world solutions’

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A fisheries scientist engaging with the community in Del Carmen mangrove forests in Siargao island. Photo Credit: ©National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP)

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 08.04.2024 (SciDev.Net): Engaging with the community in research projects from the very outset ensures that research translates into meaningful real-world solutions, according to the head of the National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP).

“This is contributing to the overall development of communities and by domino effect to the progress of the country and the wider ASEAN region,” NRCP Executive Director Bernardo Sepeda says.

Established in 1933 and now part of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the NRCP champions transdisciplinary research, involving all stakeholders from inception to disseminating the solution, which “ensures that science translates into real-world solutions for the people who need it”, according to Sepeda.

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