SSUET set to launch new courses

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology (SSUET), Karachi, is all set to launch new courses in near future with ;Management Sciences’ being on top of the list.

"The new course of Management Sciences, to include MBA and BBA, will start after its formal approval by the university's Academic Council and finally 'go ahead' from the Board of Governors,” the SSUET Vice-Chancellor, Prof Dr Jawaid H Rizvi, in an interview. 

The Vice-Chancellor pointed out that the university, having started with only two technologies of Computer and Electronic Engineering in 1994, now had as many as 10 disciplines with three technologies of Electrical, Architecture and Software Engineering having been added in 2014 while its enrollment grew from 200 students to over 6,043 students in 2016. 

“We started with just a couple of technologies but now we have expanded the programme to 10 new departments. We have plans in hand to further expand the university keeping in view the national, international demand and market trend,” he remarked. 

He informed that the university has produced more than 14,000 graduates so far and the aim was to turn out true professionals who can face competitive world of today and tomorrow with full confidence when they enter practical life.

Prof Dr Jawaid Rizvi said that the ultimate test of the institution lied in successfully achieving job placements for its graduating students. “The situation is encouraging and our graduates are well placed, either pursuing higher education doing MS or Ph.D or doing jobs abroad or in Pakistan,” he added. 

He said that there were a large number of graduates in business and recently, in order to further reinforce career planning and placement function, the university had upgraded the function and renamed the department as Centre of Guidance and Career Planning and Placement Bureau (CGCPPB) headed by a senior and internationally experienced Adviser. 

The bureau is taking number initiatives to facilitate students in internship programs in industry and also helping senior students and graduates in their career development. 

Prof Dr Jawaid Rizvi stated that in accordance with Higher Education Commission's guidelines, a Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC), headed by a very senior level professor doctor as its Director. It is regularly organizing training workshops and some of the faculty members were sent to Thailand for advanced training in quality education. 

 At the end of each semester the QEC carries out a student feedback survey to incorporate suggestions and comments of students in our educational system, he added. 

Replying a question the VC said that the curriculum is regularly updated through university’s’ Statutory Bodies in conformity with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) standards and remain at par with the contemporary and future requirements in the fields of engineering, science, and technology. 

He said that the statutory bodies appointed by the government regularly visit this university and evaluate its academic activities, research work, faculty performance and all other functions. The HEC had graded SSUET in W-4 category and its engineering programs accredited by PEC while Chartered Inspection and Evaluation Committee (CIEC) had rated the SSUET as 5-star University. 

He described the university’s admission policy straight forward with merit-based admission while strictly observing HEC, PEC quite strictly.

He said the University generously offers scholarships to students based on merit and also offers financial assistance to deserving needy students to ensure students are not deprived of studies due to any genuine financial constraint. 

He disclosed that the SSUET was a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and a member of International Association of Universities (IAU). Sponsored by UNESCO, the university was on the Board of Governors of IAU for 8 years. 

To a question Prof Dr Jawaid Rizvi said the university coordinates with professional bodies like IEEE USA and IEEE Pakistan, Institute of Engineers Pakistan (IEP), Pakistan Software Houses Association (PASHA), Pakistan Software Board besides having close working relationship with KCCI and FPCCI, which are represented in the university committees like Finance and Planning, Board of Studies, Board of Faculties and Academic Council. 

He informed that every year the university bring out its research journal and give incentives to faculty members and research scholars for conducting research. It has an impressive library with a total of 92,560 text books, reference books and a Book Bank besides a Digital Library and each department having its own library. 

The Vice Chancellor said that the university organized job fairs and displays projects, posters of projects. These are attended by professionals, management level personnel and entrepreneurs. In order to cope with growing future demand of the university, 

Prof Dr Jawaid Rizvi stated that it has 200 acres of land in the Education City where its new campus will be built with all necessary facilities for learning and recreation. 

A concept plan of new campus has been prepared and the SSUET Chancellor, Jawaid Anwar, has formed a Master Plan Committee to prepared MP in conformity with the overall MP of Education City.

Investing in adolescent health and wellbeing could transform global health

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Decades of neglect and chronic underinvestment have had serious detrimental effects on the health and wellbeing of adolescents aged 10–24 years, according to a major new Lancet Commission on adolescent health and wellbeing. 

The Commission brings together 30 of the world’s leading experts from 14 countries, including Professor Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, Founding Director of the Aga Khan University’s Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health and co-Director of the SickKids Centre for Global Child Health in Toronto, and two young health advocates, led by four academic institutions: the University of Melbourne, Australia; University College London, UK; the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK; and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, USA. 

“Given the burgeoning number of young people in Pakistan, both boys and girls, it is imperative that they play an active role in national development, supported by the requisite freedoms, rights and access to education and empowerment. Only by fully engaging and supporting our youth can Pakistan achieve its full potential,” Professor Bhutta reckoned. 

The report says that two-thirds of young people are growing up in countries where preventable and treatable health problems like HIV/AIDS, early pregnancy, unsafe sex, depression, injury, and violence remain a daily threat to their health, wellbeing and life chances. 

Evidence shows that behaviours that start in adolescence can determine health and wellbeing for a lifetime. Adolescents today also face new challenges, including rising levels of obesity and mental health disorders, high unemployment and the risk of radicalisation. 

Adolescent health and wellbeing is also a key driver of a wide range of the Sustainable Development Goals on health, nutrition, education, gender, equality and food security, and the costs of inaction are enormous, warn the authors. 

“This generation of young people can transform all our futures. There is no more pressing task in global health than ensuring they have the resources to do so. This means it will be crucial to invest urgently in their health, education, livelihoods, and participation,”  the Commission’s lead author Professor George Patton, University of Melbourne, Australia, noted.

Adolescents aged 10–24 years represent over a quarter of the population (1.8 billion), 89 per cent of whom live in developing countries. Their number is set to rise to about 2 billion by 2032. Adolescence is a critical time of formative growth and brain development second only to infancy. 

“Puberty triggers a cascading process of brain development and emotional change that continues through to the mid-20s. It brings a different and more intense engagement with the world beyond an adolescent’s immediate family. These processes shape an individual’s identity and the capabilities he/she takes forward into later life. It profoundly shapes health and wellbeing across the life-course,” Professor Patto explained. 

Although global health efforts have been successful in improving the health of children under 5 in the past few decades, this has not been matched by a similar response in older age groups. 

Although global mortality has fallen for young people aged 10–24 years since 1990, the pace of decline has been slower than in younger children, especially for males, according to a major new international analysis of findings from the Global Burden of Disease project led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA, published alongside the Commission. 

The IHME analysis reveals that HIV/AIDS, road traffic accidents, and drowning caused a quarter of deaths in 10–14 year olds globally in 2013, with diarrhoeal and intestinal infectious diseases, lower respiratory infections, and malaria contributing to a further 21 per cent of deaths. 

Road traffic accidents (14.2 per cent and 15.6 per cent), self-harm (8.4 per cent and 9.3 per cent), and violence (5.5 per cent and 6.6 per cent) are the leading causes of death for 15–19 year olds and 20–24 years olds respectively.

It is crucial to involve young people in transforming their wellbeing, personal development, and health, the authors said.

Digital media and new technologies offer remarkable opportunities to engage and empower young people to drive change. There is also a pressing need to ensure that all young people have opportunities and access to universal health coverage regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, and marital and socioeconomic status, particularly the marginalised. 

“Young people are the world’s greatest untapped resource,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, writing in a linked comment, remarked. 

“Adolescents can be key driving forces in building a future of dignity for all. If we can make a positive difference in the lives of 10-year-old girls and boys today, and expand their opportunities and capabilities over the next 15 years, we can ensure the success of the SDGs. For me, the acronym “SDG” also stands for “Sustainable Development Generation”, and sustainability means engaging future generations today.” 

The Commission authors made several recommendations to improve prospects for adolescent health and wellbeing echoing those of The Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s, and Adolescent’s Health launched in September, 2015, leading with the urgent need to expand access to free secondary education; get serious about the laws that empower and protect adolescents such as guaranteeing 18 years as the minimum age for marriage; and continue gathering better evidence for action particularly around mental health and violence. 

Other recommendations included collecting and reporting on a minimum set of priority indicators for adolescent health reflecting the burden of disease and risk factors, and for robust, transparent governance and accountability for adolescent health.

AKU introduces real-time vaccination monitoring

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Routine immunization rates have been falling in Sindh from 37 per cent in 2006-07 to 29 per cent in 2012-13. This is one of the reasons behind polio endemicity and is leading to outbreaks of deadly preventable childhood diseases such as measles. Other diseases covered by routine immunization are hepatitis B, pneumococcal infections, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis.

A pilot project in District Tando Muhammad Khan (TMK) implemented by Aga Khan University and supported by Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations assessed the barriers and strengthened government Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) services through game changers. 

It helped in finding out what was wrong with routine immunization and how it could be improved. The result was a jump in routine immunization from 15-19 per cent surveyed for different vaccines–to 49-84 per cent as reported by independent monitoring. 

According to the project lead for this component Dr Shehla Zaidi, Associate Professor, Women and Child Health Division, Aga Khan University, the main bottlenecks were low accountability of routine immunization, children often getting missed for vaccination at health facilities, insufficient visits to villages by vaccinators, and little efforts at routine immunization awareness even by the health workforce on ground. 

Above all, the vaccination reporting was not verified, the numbers reported by government’s EPI are much higher than that by the national Pakistan Demographic and Health Surveys, showing the gap in performance accountability. So the project used strategies that can be sustained by the government, involve little cost and do not involve additional manpower. 

The breakthrough came by focusing on performance accountability of vaccination, monitored independently through a smart phone android application. Named Teeko, the app was designed with the Aga Khan Development Network e-Health Resource Centre in Karachi. 

It monitors the number of children being immunized, vaccinators’ movement, vaccine stock available at union council with real data instantly available for checking at district and provincial level. And the district took action by suspending low performing vaccinators and publically appreciating well performing ones. 

Fuel support for visiting villages was provided to vaccinators based on immunization performance provided to vaccinators– and a detailed district micro-plan developed. A team approach to vaccination was brought in bringing the Department of Health staff and People's Primary Healthcare Initiative staff together as a single team to reduce children missed for vaccination. 

Single window system was put in place at basic health units and rural health centers so that every child who comes in is screened for vaccination status, at colorful child friendly EPI rooms. All frontline health staff from doctors to dispensers to lady health workers got trained to actively counsel and referred children for immunization. 

The team also planned together for monthly achievement of union council targets. Communication to community was improved through one time, sustainable measures. Demand generation messages were sent to all mobile phone users for children registration, and local FM radio broadcast jingles. The innovations were designed in close collaboration with Sindh EPI, implemented through the district government and with input from UN agencies. 

“At the same time, we had a high number of vaccinations reported that didn’t match the actual disease outbreak numbers. As the three month roll-out results show, there is instant online reporting of children under one-year-old vaccinated against targets, static and outreach performance, as well as details of under-performing and over-performing union councils,” Dr Shehla Zaidi added. 

District officials and legislators have welcomed the new planning and monitoring systems and are aware of the efforts that have been invested in the project. 

“A major challenge for the district administration will be to sustain the progress we have made after the project is over,” Agha Abdul Raheem, Deputy Commissioner, TMK., observed. 

“The real-time performance monitoring has been the major driver and can be taken over by EPI Sindh at very little additional cost and incorporated in its upcoming expanded EPI support," Dr Shehla Zaidi reckoned.

Huawei Technologies interested in recruiting SSUET students

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

A leading telecom company has evinced interest in picking the students of the Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology (SSUET), Karachi, to cope with its future expansion plans. 

“The students of this university are more technologically sound.” members of a 6-member of Huawei Technologies observed after having visited the SSUET where they held meetings with its Chancellor, Jawaid Anwar, Vice-Chancellor, Prof Dr Jawaid H Rizvi, and Registrar, Syed Sarfraz Ali, briefing them about their plans as part of their recruitment drive.

The team having three Chinese with local representatives, technical persons and human resource experts spent a whole day with the SSUET officials, faculty members and students. 

Almost 100 students from various departments appeared in the aptitude test and 35 students were short listed for the interview. 

The Huawei team had arrived with the positive intention and they provided an opportunity to the young engineers of SSUET to enlighten their career.

In their meeting, the SSUET Chancellor, Javaid Anwar, highly appreciated the team’s efforts and observed that their recruitment drive will open up bright opportunities for students of this university. 

He also praised the performance of the telecom engineering department and said its students will prove an asset for the company. 

The team members pointed out that they would pick up talented students from telecom, electronics and computer engineering disciplines for internship leading to jobs in the company.

In their meeting with the Vice-Chancellor, the team members briefed him about their ongoing recruitment drive and noted that they found the students of this university more technically sound than other universities. 

The Registrar, Syed Sarfraz Ali, welcomed the team members and assured them of meeting the company’s requirements with the provision of best talented students for internship leading to jobs for them. 

On the occasion he presented souvenirs to the visiting team members. The event was organized by Khawaja Masood Ahmed

IG Police calls on KPT chief

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Apropos the prevailing law and order situation of the metropolis Karachi, the IG Sindh, A D Khowaja called on Chairman, Karachi Port Trust (KPT), Vice Admiral (R) Shafqat Jawed, at the KPT Head Office to point out and discuss issues related to land base falling in the jurisdiction of the KPT. 

The KPT Chairman briefed the IG Sindh about various issues pertaining to KPT and thanked for the whole hearted support of the Sindh Police. 

Vice Admiral (R) Shafqat Jawed complimented the efforts of law enforcement agencies and particularly the Police force in maintaining tranquillity in city in general and surrounding of port area in particular which is also the hub of business activities of Pakistan and provides almost 70% of the total revenue earned by national exchequer. 

He also informed the IGP Sindh about some upcoming mega development work which would ultimately reshape and glorify the metropolitan city Karachi very soon.

Study finds misconceptions about asthma

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Even though one in 10 children in Pakistan suffer from asthma, false beliefs about the chronic lung disease are still common in the country, according to a study conducted at four major hospitals in Karachi.

The findings of the two-month long study ‘Knowledge and misconceptions of asthma in local population’ were discussed at a public awareness session on World Asthma Day, May 3, at the Aga Khan University, Karachi. 

The researchers found out widespread confusion about asthma amongst the public. 

Almost half the people surveyed, 45 per cent, believed that asthma was an infectious disease while nearly half of people, 47 per cent believed that regular exercise, such as swimming, could cure asthma. 

As many as 42 per cent asserted that drinking milk could trigger asthma while one in five, 19 per cent, thought of the disease as a psychological disorder rather than a respiratory disease. 

Outlining facts about the disease, Dr Nousheen Iqbal, consultant pulmonologist at AKU was very clear that asthma is a respiratory disorder with “5 per cent of adults and 10 per cent of children in Pakistan suffering from the disease.” 

“Asthma causes inflammation of the airways leading to the lungs and results in coughing, breathlessness and discomfort in the chest. It can be caused by genetic and environmental factors, and cannot be transmitted from one person to another. Nor can it be caused by eating or drinking certain products such as milk or rice,” she added. 

One of the researchers on the study, Dr Javaid Khan, professor of medicine at AKU, added that results pointed to worrying notions about how to treat the disease. 

“Inhalers are the best and safest way of treating asthma. But in Pakistan people have serious reservations about using inhalers. Here 57 per cent of people incorrectly associate the use of inhalers with serious side effects while 66 per cent wrongly think that inhaling steam is the best remedy for asthma,” Dr Khan said. 

Even though asthma can be effectively managed with the use of inhalers, 69 per cent of people thought that asthmatics could not take part in normal physical activity such as sports. 

“Recent research on asthma has shown that treatment helps nearly all asthma patients gain control over their condition. After that, they can participate in school, work and other normal physical activities,” Dr Khan added. 

During the seminar, physicians demonstrated the use of common treatments against the disease such as inhalers, spacers and peak flow meters and discussed effective treatment plans. 

The data for the study was collected from 400 adults at the outpatient departments of four urban hospitals in Karachi, the Aga Khan University Hospital, Civil Hospital, Jinnah Hospital and Dow University of Health Sciences, Ojha

AKUH to observe World Asthma Day

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Aga Khan University Hospital will be organizing an awareness session on World Asthma Day (May 3) with the theme ‘You can control your asthma’ at the Aga Khan University Auditorium in Karachi. 

Asthma is a chronic disease of the lungs which causes breathing problems. The symptoms of asthma attack include breathlessness, coughing, wheezing and a feeling of tightness in the chest. 

It can be controlled by knowing the warning signs of an attack, staying away from things that trigger an attack, and following the advice of your health care provider. 

The aim of the event is to raise awareness for those who are affected by asthma as well as for the family or friends who are primary caregivers.