Pakistan’s University of Karachi will host the fifth round of Science and Technology Exchange Program (STEP), organised by Mustafa Science and Technology Foundation in a bid to highlight Muslim female scientists’ contribution to the health sector.
The four-day event that will kick off on Wednesday February 27 at the University of Karachi will investigate how Muslim women have been able to meet the health challenges in Islamic world and will study the latest approaches and achievements to face these difficulties.
One of the key activities of the 5th STEP meeting, which will be held in collaboration with International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), is to emphasize the role of Muslim women in the development of science and technology as well as their high profile in the present summit.
“In this round, health and hygiene as well as prevention, detection and treatment of communicable and noncommunicable diseases will be focused,” Shaghayegh Haghjoo, secretary of the 5th STEP meeting told IRNA.
The STEP Symposium, held annually in one of the Islamic countries, offers a wide range of joint cooperative research opportunities and creates a platform for in-depth discussions and exchanges of strategic experience to member states of the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the field of Science and Technology. It’s also meant to create an atmosphere of cooperation and interaction among experts and scientists from Islamic world.
More than 70 health scientists from 25 countries such as Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh, Denmark and Egypt, are expected to take part in the meeting, Haghjoo added.
She stressed that STEP deals with major health issues in Islamic countries and discusses solutions to these problems.
The first and third STEPs were held in the Iranian capital Tehran as well as Mustafa Prize Award ceremonies in 2015 and 2017. The events took place in cooperation with Islamic World Academy of Sciences, and various universities and scientific centers.
The second STEP was held in Putrajaya, 2016, in collaboration with Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Young Scientists Network, and Academy of Sciences Malaysia. The fourth STEP was recently held in Muscat, 2-5 December, 2018, hosted by Sultan Qaboos University (SQU).
Source:Irna