icipe at Biovision 2016
Lyon, France, 13 – 14 April 2016 – Prof. Baldwyn Torto, Head of icipe Behavioural and Chemical Ecology Unit attended and gave a plenary address at the Biovision World Life Science Forum, held in Lyon, France.
The Biovision World Life Science Forum fosters a unique approach to meet, connect and collaborate between international decision-makers from the academic, civil society, policy-making and private sectors whether industrials or investors.
Plenary participants not in picture include: Prof. Coleen Flood, Institute of Health policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto; Prof. Christian Herve, University of Paris Decartes; Dr Seema Kumar, Vice President, Innovation, Global Health and Policy Communication, Johnson and Johnson; Dr. Robert Sebbag, Vice President, Access to Medicines, Sanofi Pasteur and Prof. Jean-Pierre Unger, Department of Public health, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Anvers, Antwerp, Belgium.
The main theme of Biovision 2016 was "Global health and Prevention" and specific paths (Medicine & Humanities, Vaccines, Cancer Prevention and Digitalized Patients).
Prof. Torto’s plenary address was on the key medical problems facing majority of Africa’s 1.1 billion people, including malaria and zoonotic diseases such as Dengue, Chikungunya and Rift Valley fever.
He emphasized that in Africa, access to good medical care for most people is either limited or non-existent. Moreover, where available, medical care is expensive and, particularly for rural dwellers, access to it requires extensive and ardous travel.
Prof. Torto noted that as a result, icipe’s focus is on prevention of diseases at the community level. The Centre concentrates on: the training of community health workers to enable them serve as first responders to medical cases effectively; surveillance of mosquito vectors of primary diseases in the hotbeds; building the capacity of scientists, policy makers and the private sector working on vaccines and medications to work together by adopting a ‘One Health’ approach to tackle emerging infectious diseases.
Prof. Torto observed that icipe is currently using the strategies above in Kenya and Ethiopia, where the Centre’s researchers are conducting research on vector biology and ecology, and working with communities and policy makers to fight diseases such as malaria, with demonstratable success.
He concluded that global health is being adversely affected by global warming, and travel of infected persons. More importantly there is a growing threat that local vectors, such as mosquitoes, can easily adapt to new viruses introduced into new areas by infected people. As such he called upon Europe to invest more in the ‘One Health” approach, with a focus on prevention methods in Africa, which would not only make Africa safe from emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, but would in turn make Europe also safe from these diseases.
For more information visit:
http://www.icipe.org/about/staff/baldwyn-torto
http://www.icipe.org/research/research-support-units/behavioural-and-chemical-ecology