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Food security needs innovation and social support, experts say

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KU seminar highlights farmers’ role and sustainable food systems as PMA calls for nutritional assistance and mental health support for distressed families IV Report KARACHI: Food security requires sustainable food systems, modern research and farmers’ participation, alongside measures to protect vulnerable households from hunger, malnutrition and economic distress, speakers at a University of Karachi seminar and the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) have emphasised. The seminar, held on Thursday to mark World Food Day 2026, highlighted the need to combine local knowledge with scientific innovation, while the PMA, in a statement issued on Friday, warned that persistent inflation, food insecurity and financial hardship were aggravating public health and mental health concerns. Organised by KU’s Department of Food Science and Technology at its Master Conference Hall, the seminar was titled “World Food Day 2026: Innovate Today, Nourish Tomorrow”. FAO Pakistan Programme Coordina...
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Pakistan’s HIV wake-up call: The cost of waiting until 2030 — Part III

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The final challenge is to close the silence around undiagnosed HIV and use the next four years to shift from counting infections to preventing them. Prof Dr Muhammad Rafiq Khanani A nd there is a particularly large silence to break: the silence surrounding those who have HIV but do not know it. The source describes the undiagnosed population as perhaps the most alarming feature of Pakistan’s epidemic. National programme reviews have repeatedly shown a substantial gap between the number of people estimated to be living with HIV and those who know their status. The answer is not indiscriminate testing of millions of people with little likelihood of exposure. It is more intelligent case finding through community testing, self-testing, partner and index testing, antenatal services and testing linked with TB, sexually transmitted infections, hepatitis, prisons and other relevant services.   The 2030 choice The urgency becomes clearer when the country’s trajectory is considered. ...
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Lipid experts highlight rising heart risks among youth

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Conference organisers announce cholesterol awareness app in Urdu, Sindhi and English IV Report KARACHI: Health experts have expressed concern over the rising incidence of heart disease among younger people in Pakistan, linking the trend to abnormal blood lipid levels, unhealthy dietary habits and inadequate awareness of cholesterol screening. Speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Saturday, on the sidelines of the first Lipid Society of Pakistan Conference, the experts stressed the need for early identification of cardiovascular risk factors, regular screening and lifestyle changes to prevent heart attacks and strokes. Professor Muhammad Nawaz Lashari, secretary general of the Lipid Society of Pakistan and a professor at Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), said excessive blood lipid levels were a major contributor to the growing burden of cardiovascular disease. A post-conference press release cited “research” suggesting that 95 per cent of Pak...
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KU seminar for stronger action against online harassment

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Experts link cybercrime to erosion of values, call for legislation with implementation; NCCIA official says data access remains key challenge IV Report KARACHI: An interactive seminar at the University of Karachi on Friday called for stronger laws, their strict implementation, and collective responsibility to check rising cases of online harassment, blackmail and character assassination. The seminar on 'National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA): Challenges, Counter-Strategies, and Freedom of Speech' was organised by the Department of Criminology at the Chinese Teachers' Memorial Auditorium. Newly appointed KU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Wasim Qazi said crime cannot be confined to violation of law alone, as deviation from social values, denial of equal opportunities and lack of moral training are also grave social problems. For a civilised society, he said, respect for humanity, mutual acceptance and effective legislation with implementation are essential. He s...
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Pakistan’s HIV wake-up call: The cost of waiting until 2030 — Part II

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Pakistan has accumulated substantial evidence on HIV transmission, but the continuing challenge is to turn surveillance, treatment and prevention into a coordinated response that reaches people and communities in time. Prof Dr Muhammad Rafiq Khanani The gap between knowing and acting Pakistan has nevertheless made progress in one visible area: the expansion of free antiretroviral therapy. The country had approximately 95 ART centres by 2025. But the number of centres can create an impression of progress that the treatment cascade does not necessarily support. The more meaningful questions are whether people living with HIV know their status, whether those diagnosed begin treatment, whether they remain on treatment and whether they achieve viral suppression. An ART centre is of limited value to someone who does not know they are infected, cannot reach the service, drops out of treatment or never receives the viral-load monitoring needed to establish whether treatment is working....
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Weak governance undermines Pakistan’s health system: experts

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Speakers call for stronger regulation, primary healthcare and prevention as households continue to shoulder much of the healthcare burden IV Report KARACHI: Weak governance, inadequate regulation, limited public-sector coverage and insufficient emphasis on prevention are undermining Pakistan’s ability to build an equitable and sustainable health system, speakers said at an international conference at the University of Karachi on Wednesday. They called for stronger primary healthcare, effective regulation of both public and private sectors, greater investment in health and education, better surveillance and a decisive shift from treating illness to preventing it. The three-day first International Conference on Public Health Governance and Sustainable Health Systems 2026, organised by the University of Karachi in collaboration with Al-Kawthar University, is being held at the HEJ Research Institute Auditorium under the theme “Governing for Health: Equity, Resilience, and Innovati...
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Pakistan’s HIV wake-up call: The cost of waiting until 2030 — Part I

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                                                                                         AI-generated While the global HIV epidemic is declining, Pakistan is moving in the opposite direction. Four decades after the first locally acquired infections were documented, the country faces a widening gap between what it knows about the epidemic and what it is doing to contain it By Prof Dr Muhammad Rafiq Khanani Pakistan has lived with HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus) for almost four decades. Yet the country’s present challenge is no longer simply to understand how the virus spreads. It is to confront why, despite years of surveillance, treatment programmes and accumulated evidence, transmission continues to expand. The first locally acquired HIV infections were docu...
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