UMS signs MoU with EcoHealth Alliance
Kota Kinabalu: Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with EcoHealth Alliance (EHA) to mark their official collaboration in studies related to health, economy and environment.
UMS Vice Chancellor Professor Datuk Dr. Mohd Harun Abdullah said the collaboration would definitely offer an exposure to local scientists especially in terms of medical studies as well as the publishing of high impact journals.
“Local scientists will have the chance to be involved in the various studies involving medical, science, economy and others. This is really a good opportunity… Sabah has lots of natural resources and can be utilised for medical purposes.
“Therefore, we look forward to numerous collaborations with EHA and with the funding support we received, we expect to work closely together with various aspects related to the environment,” he said, adding that they are currently working on a research and had received a funding worth about RM300, 000.
“If we really want to sustain the planet that we enjoy, we need to be able to make it economically viable and that is the real goal of this collaborative work,” said EHA President Dr. Peter Daszak.
“I look forward to working with the great minds, the great scientists that are here from the health sides, environment side and economic side in UMS…our organisation appreciates the efforts you and your staff have made to allow this to happen and I’m really looking forward to the next few years of growth and of some amazing science and work,” he said.
According to him, EHA has been working in Malaysia for the past 15 years with the focus to understand the connections between ecology and health.
Daszak explained that in life most would try to strike a balance between the needs of people and the needs of the environment.
“However, in some places in the world, the balance isn’t right and wildlife is disappearing and pollution is very high. The human population suffers because of that and health implications can be quite important,” he explained.
Diseases have emerged, for example, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus which spread through wildlife trade and hunting in an unsustainable level, he said.
Fortunately, Daszak explained Sabah still has a huge abundance of biodiversity and the government has the foresight to understand its economic value both through ecotourism and through the locals living a better life.
“So what this collaboration with UMS will do is that we’ll look into the economic impact of these things to try and find a way to strike a balance between human development and environment in a way that is economically viable which is good for our ethics and enjoyment of life,” he said.
The signing of the MoU officially launched the Development and Health Research Unit (DHRU), a training and resource sharing platform, convening roundtable dialogues between government, industry and Non-Governmental Organisations on the economic relationship between land use change and disease emergence.
The DHRU is supported by the Infectious Disease Emergence and Economics of Altered Landscapes (IDEEAL) programme funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
It will be housed at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences with researchers from the faculty as well as from the Faculty of Business and Economics.
The IDDEAL programme promotes robust and sustainable economic development while preserving ecosystems and protecting health.
In conjunction with the signing of MoU, DHRU will be hosting its first conference ‘The Links between Land Use Change, Development and Health’ on May 14.
Guest speakers will be from Australia, the United States and Malaysia and participants will include government, industry, non-profit organisations, faculty staff and students.
Source: Daily Express
