Maryam Abacha American University of Nigeria, on Tuesday, 30th April, 2024 held its second Online Lecture Series organized by the university’s International Faculty on parasitic diseases.
The lecture series with the theme: “Parasitic Disease of Public Health Concern”, was aimed at promoting technology based learning among students in the areas of public health, especially zoonotic diseases which are passed from animals to human beings.
The virtual lecture held at Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed Twin Lecture Theatre, was attended by students of School of Nursing Sciences and Health Sciences as well as some faculty members.
The event provided an atmosphere for productive discussions, where students during the audience session, craved for detail exploration into the concepts of parasitism, the relationships between parasites and their hosts and the cultural and socio-economic factors affecting the transmission of parasites.
In his presentation, the Chairman, Department of Pathobiology and Biomedical Sciences, Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University, Pakistan, Prof. (Dr.) Muhammad Asif Raza, who discussed the latest developments in parasitology across a variety of disciplines, including biology, medicine and veterinary medicine, described zoonotic malaria as one of the severe public health problems in the world.
According to him, this type of malaria has been the leading cause of death among human beings since 2017 as it is caused by a parasite known as plasmodium knowlesi found in monkeys.
Prof. Raza, who also spoke on waterborne parasites, said available treatments are effective against zoonotic malaria, saying however, there is no effective method to control the vector (mosquitoes).
He added that there are various preventive measures such as vaccination, community education which help raise awareness about the risks of zoonotic diseases and reduce the risk of their transmission.
He, therefore, charged the students to make the best use of the lecture in order to know more about parasitic diseases.
In his remarks, a faculty member at MAAUN, Dr. M. Kabir said the online lecture was designed to build the students’ learning capacity.
He identified some key challenges facing developing countries especially in rural areas such as lack of access to quality health care services and inadequately equipped laboratories.
In her vote of thanks, another faculty member, Dr. Samira Salisu Shu’aibu, who stressed the importance of the lecture, commended the Speaker for presenting a well researched paper.
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