KOCHI:
The 14th edition of Asian Conference on Diarrhoeal Diseases and Nutrition (ASCODD) concluded on a high note here on Wednesday with delegates and investigators discussing the incidence of around ten areas of diarrhoeal diseases and measures for combating them in a concerted manner.
A salient feature of the three-day international conclave was the participation of 100 young investigators besides 300 delegates from 14 countries, who discussed, in particular,diarrhoea, which has emerged as a major killer disease for children below the age of five.
Dr. Firdausi Qadri from Bangladesh assumed charge as the new President post the Conference. The next edition of ASCODD will be conducted in Bangladesh.
“The 2017 edition of ASCODD has been successful. I am happy to see more youngsters stepping in with newer studies on diarrhoeal diseases. We covered around 10 different areas of diarrhoeal diseases in this edition and would expand more in the next,” Dr. Qadri said in her concluding address.
The conference was organised by the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, a national institute under the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India in association with International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr, b); Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad; the INCLEN Trust International (INCLEN INT) and the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED), Kolkata.
A total of 102 posters were presented as part of the ASCODD 2017. Wardha Haque from icddr,b and Upayan Patra from NICED jointly bagged the first prize for best poster presentation.
Ankita Das, of Jawaharalal Institute of Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), and Motaher Hossain, of icddr,b, were named as second prize winners. Multaquina Hossain, Dr Zannatun Noor and Dr Zahirul Islam of icddr,b and Arindam Naha of NICED shared the third prize.
Over 61 scientists from countries, including the UK, the US, Bangladesh, Germany, India, France and Sweden, presented papers at the conference and led discussions in 10 sessions spread over the three days. The theme of the conference was “Saving lives: innovations and solutions for diarrhoeal diseases, enteric fever and malnutrition,” and it was majorly supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Special sessions were held to deliberate on effective strategies and innovative technologies in diarrhoeal disease surveillance, vaccine research and other point of care diagnostics for enteric diseases.
The ASCODD also had a session on the regional experiences in the control of the diarrhoeal disease, covering how the disease burden is managed in Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia and India, with the first-hand experience of scientists from these countries.
