Shehri Tv

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi (Pakistan News & Features Services) Dr Sadia Bhutta of AKU’s Institute for Educational Development (IED), has received the Best University Teacher award from the Higher Education Commission (HEC) for the year 2015 at a ceremony in Islamabad. The annual award from HEC, Pakistan’s university accreditation and regulatory body, honours teachers in higher education who have made a contribution to society through innovative teaching practices, research and community service.  An IED alumna from the Class of 1999, Dr Bhutta went on to earn her doctorate in Education with a specific focus on Health Promotion through Schools from Oxford University’s Department of Education before returning to Pakistan to take up a position as the IED’s Head of Research and Policy Studies.  In this role, she ensures that research at IED is relevant to the country’s education challenges and that studies are designed to inform government policy. Alongside her res...

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi (Pakistan News & Features Services) The experts have warned that misuse and overuse of antibiotics in humans and animals has resulted in the widespread distribution of resistant organisms in several countries, including Pakistan which means that antibiotics which were previously able to cure will not work any more. They were addressing a national symposium on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) organized by the Aga Khan University (AKU), Karachi.  The symposium coincides with the launch of the National Strategic Framework for Antimicrobial Resistance by the Government of Pakistan the other week.  “Antibiotic resistance is as much a problem in Pakistan as in the Western hemisphere,” Dr Sadia Shakoor, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at AKU, reckoned.  “We know that infections acquired in the community are becoming resistant because antibiotics are available freely to the population even without prescri...

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi (Pakistan News & Features Services) The work on Rs 7 billion project of dualization of railway track from Port Qasim to Bin Qasim Railway station will be completed by June 30, 2017.  The 11-km long track is being renewed with laying of a new track to facilitate the transportation of coal from Port Qasim to Bin Qasim Railway station for supply to upcountry destination.  Engr Nisar Memon, the Divisional Superintendent Railways Karachi Division, revealed during an interview that 80 percent work on the existing track has been completed, while plan was afoot for the construction of a new railway station between Port Qasim and Bin Qasim.  He said that the renewal work on 135-km track between Landhi and Kotri Railway Stations has been completed at a cost of Rs nine billion, adding that the work on strengthening of the track is going and upon completion, the train speed will increase from existing 110 km/hour to 120 Km/hour thus redu...

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi (Pakistan News & Features Services) Unusually high levels of lead and arsenic, heavy metals most commonly associated with human poisoning, have been found in common foods. These are the findings of a research study, conducted by the Aga Khan University in collaboration with Japan’s Jichi Medical University, that were presented at a seminar Heavy Metals, Food Safety and Child Development at AKU on December 5. Lead and arsenic are two chemicals deemed to be of major concern to public health, according to the World Health Organization’s International Programme on Chemical Safety, since both elements have toxic effects that can cause irreversible neurological damage and even trigger a wide range of chronic diseases.  To determine the cause of lead and arsenic exposure, the AKU researchers looked at common sources of lead and arsenic exposure including petrol, foods, drinking water, house-dust, respirable dust and soil across urban and rural ar...

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi ( Pakistan News & Features Services) “We are running successful businesses, leading civil rights organizations and inspiring students in schools,” members of the public with disabilities spoke at a seminar on December 2 at the Aga Khan University (AKU), Karachi,  The strategies to prevent injuries that cause disabilities, initiatives to broaden access to rehabilitative services and steps to make educational services more inclusive were discussed at the event celebrating the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. In Pakistan, five million people suffer from some form of disability.  “Yet less than 1 in 5 of the country’s persons with disabilities (PWD) can access the social and educational support they need to thrive. Only 1 in 7 receive the help they need to participate fully in the workforce and just 1 in 10 have access to rehabilitative services that can help them recover.”  “If the true measure of any society can b...