The President of the University of Basrah, Dr. Saad Shaheen Hammadi, received the Director of the World Health Organization office for the southern region, Dr. Awatef Al-Aqabi.
During the meeting, they discussed activating studies and research programs regarding the issue of hemorrhagic fever and detecting the type of virus that causes the disease and the type of tick that transmits it.
Dr. Saad Shaheen Hammadi indicated that the University of Basrah continued its openness to society, and this was evident during the pandemic period, and the cooperation was close between us and the World Health Organization, as its echoes reached the whole world.
With regard to hemorrhagic fever, Shaheen added, our university has taken proactive steps, including educating the community about the disease and preparing studies and research in this field concerning patients and infected animals that will serve the World Health Organization, and there will be effective partnerships between our university, the organization and the Basra Health Department.
Dr. Awatif Al-Aqabi confirmed that the environment of the University of Basrah is encouraging for cooperation, and this is what we saw during the Covid 19 period, and it really proved that it is in the service of society. Work is currently underway to study the causes of hemorrhagic fever and its prevalence points, especially since Iraq has changed from a country where the disease is endemic to a highly endemic, which requires emphasis on the use of tickicides that transmit the virus and to determine the antibiotics used in the event of infection.
Al-Aqabi added, “we will have programs that will be applied for the first time at the level of the Eastern Mediterranean region, which includes 22 countries, for those recovering from hemorrhagic fever, and we obtained the approval of the Iraqi Ministry of Health to start starting.
