Health

Challenges & opportunities

Implementing sustainable healthcare systems and technologies

The World Health Statistics report of the World Health Organization, published long before the COVID-19 pandemic, shows that at least 50% of the world’s population do not have access to essential health services. At the same time, many of those who do have access to such services suffer undue financial hardship. The first major pandemic of our century has further heightened awareness that concerted efforts are needed to fight health emergencies, address the growing burden of non-communicable diseases and tackle determinants of health such as air pollution.

Health plays a central role in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and needs more interaction with different areas, such as climate, energy, nutrition, and water, for the overall achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More than ever, science, technology and innovation are of vital importance to the development of sustainable healthcare systems.

Conference programme

Health sessions

Watch our conference sessions. Sessions labeled were live-streamed from our studios in Brussels.

Plenary

Plenary session

Looking beyond COVID-19: Integrated pathways to address health, economy, and climate

28/10/2020, 14:30 - 16:00

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COVID-19, the first major pandemic of our century, confirms the crucial importance of sustainable healthcare systems and technologies in fighting health emergencies. Although science, technology and innovation are challenged during this pandemic, they play a vital role in how countries tackle the spread of the coronavirus and prepare for new outbreaks.

Systems for faster development of tests, vaccines, and pharmaceuticals are made possible by intensive collaboration among countries and coordination by the WHO. The use of telemedicine and other communication technologies is instrumental in making health systems more responsive and productive during critical pandemic phases. The integration of mathematical sciences in the prediction and modelling of essential elements proves to be a valuable resource for health sector authorities and managers to make rapid and precise decisions. Access to off-grid decentralised renewable power is crucial in mitigating the human catastrophe and speeding up the global recovery process, especially for developing countries.

Speakers during this plenary session will shed light on how different technological innovations are helping the fight against COVID-19 in different regions of the world. At the same time, they will reflect on the legal plausibility, ethical soundness and effectiveness of deploying emerging technologies under time pressure. Striking the right balance is crucial for maintaining public trust in evidence-based public health interventions.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic clearly shows we are facing a double-edged challenge in the long term. While the economic slowdown can have adverse effects on countries’ ongoing efforts towards climate mitigation, the gradual resumption of large-scale economic activities can put renewed pressure on the environment. In this way, the COVID-19 pandemic reconfirms the need for long-term development models designed around the core principle of building a resilient economy that ensures health and wellbeing of citizens and tackles climate change challenges. This plenary session will be an excellent opportunity to examine new technologies that catalyse broader change and tackle the climate change challenges ahead, maintaining the positive outcomes of this COVID-19 pandemic.

Presentation 14:30 - 14:35

Introduction

Paulo Gadelha

Paulo Gadelha

Fiocruz

Coordinator Fiocruz Strategy for 2030 Agenda

As the coordinator of the FIOCRUZ Strategy for the 2030 Agenda, Paulo Gadelha is in charge of promoting FIOCRUZ’ strategic engagement with the Agenda’s aspirational principles and goals. His background in technology includes studies of the application of technology in public health, healthcare models, and the history of Science, Technology & Innovation.

Paulo Gadelha was FIOCRUZ President from 2009 to 2016, leading scientific achievements in biomedical sciences, the generation of scientific and technological knowledge, and the promotion of health and social development. Previously, he founded and directed the “Casa de Oswaldo Cruz”, a FIOCRUZ Institute dedicated to the sociology and history of science and health.

Paulo served as a member of the National Health Council’s Science and Technology Intersectoral Commission. As President of the Brazilian Association of Collective Health, he chaired the 11th World Congress on Public Health. In cooperation with UN/DESA, he headed FIOCRUZ’s efforts in organizing the 1st International Consultation on Science, Technology and Innovation in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its health-related goals in 2017.

Presentation 14:35 - 14:55

The global response to the pandemic: research and development at a time of health crisis

Soumya Swaminathan

Soumya Swaminathan

WHO

Chief Scientist

Presentation 15:00 - 15:10

The role of Fiocruz in pandemic responses

Nisia Trindade Lima

Nisia Trindade Lima

Fiocruz

President

Nisia Trindade Lima is the president of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, and the first woman to chair the institution in its 116-year history. She served as Fiocruz Vice-President of Teaching, Information, and Communication from 2011 to 2016. From 2006 to 2011, she was director of the publisher Editora Fiocruz.

Lima has been a Fiocruz civil servant for almost three decades. She was one of the founders of the specialization course on History of Health in the Amazon, as well as the History of Science and Health Graduate Program at the House of Oswaldo Cruz. Her major role in shaping up the partnership between Fiocruz and the Brazilian Government helped in enhancing the preservation of both cultural and tangible heritage of Health in Brazil. She earned a medal of honour from the Brazilian Academy of Letters and another during the Foundation’s 100th anniversary.

Lima has participated in international programmes and networks in the areas of the history of science and health and sits on the editorial boards of the journals Medical History; Revista Brasileira de História da Ciência; História, Ciências, Saúde—Manguinhos; Cadernos de História da Ciência (Instituto Butantan); and Escritos (Casa de Rui Barbosa Foundation). Her research interests include the history of science and health, especially the social sciences, and Brazilian social thought.

Presentation 15:10 - 15:20

Water and sanitation in the context of epidemics: challenges imposed to society and health facilities

Anthony Bud Rock

Anthony Bud Rock

Global Water

Principal

Presentation 15:20 - 15:30

Lessons from the Chinese response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Gao Fu

Gao Fu

Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Director-General

Presentation 15:30 - 15:40

The role of science, technology, and innovation agencies, at times of pandemics

Manuel Heitor

H.E. Manuel Heitor

Portugal

Minister of Science and Technology

Manuel Heitor has been Minister of Science, Technology & Higher Education of Portugal since 2015.

From 2005-2011, he served as Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Higher Education. He is a full-time professor at IST, the engineering school of the University of Lisbon, and the founder and Director of IST’s Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research.

In 2011-12, he was a visiting scholar at Harvard. He earned a PhD at Imperial College, London, in combustion research and did his post-doctoral training at the University of California San Diego.

Manuel Heitor was co-Chairman of the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon between 1993 and 1998. During the ’90s, he studied politics of science, technology and innovation. In 1998, he founded Centre of Innovation, Technology and Development Policies Studies, IN+, at the Instituto Superior Técnico. In 2005, this centre was ranked among the Top 50 global centres of research on Management of Technology, by International Association for the Management of Technology.

Manuel Heitor is a Research Fellow of Texas University at the Institute of Innovation, Creativity and Capital. He founded and coordinated several international conferences related to Technology Policy and Innovation, and is a co-editor of the Purdue University Press book collection on Science and Technology Policy. In 2002, he also co-founded the international network Globelics – the global network for the economics of learning, innovation, and competence building systems.

Recently, Manuel Heitor was one of the promotors of the European step4EU network (science, technology, education and policy for Europe) and the International Observatory of Global Politics for the Exploitation of Atlantic Ocean. In July 2015, he promoted the manifesto “Knowledge as Our Common Future”.

Presentation 15:40 - 16:00

Q&A

Health

Deep dive session

Air quality monitoring and forecasting

27/10/2020, 11:30 - 13:00

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As we understand the impact of air pollution on public health and the health of our planet, there is a strong need for developing methods that enable us to take corrective measures or mitigate air pollution effects. Air quality monitoring, measuring airborne solid particles (aerosols) in near real-time, is a first essential step in doing that. Dense networks of aerosols recording ground stations help assess the spatial variations of surface air quality. Satellite remote sensing complements these local data with more global information covering the areas under examination. Air pollution forecasting models process these in situ measurements and geospatial monitoring data, enabling decision makers to take corrective measures.

Chaired by

Randeep Guleria

Randeep Guleria

All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)

Pulmonologist & Critical Care Specialist, Director & CEO of AIIMS

Randeep Guleria did his medical studies at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) Chandigarh, from where he secured his MD in general medicine and DM in pulmonary medicine. He joined the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and rose in ranks to become a professor and the head of the department of Pulmonology and Sleep Disorders. He is currently the Director and C.E.O. of AIIMS, New Delhi. He is associated with the World Health Organization (WHO) as a member of its Scientific Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunisation and influenza vaccination. He is a life member of the Association of Physicians of India, Indian Chest Society and the National College of Chest Physicians of India. He also serves as a consultant to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna on issued related to radiation protection.
Guleria has been the personal physician to late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Prime Minister of India since 1998 and is credited with research on pulmonary diseases. His research findings have been recorded by way of 36 book chapters and 268 articles; ResearchGate, an online knowledge repository has published 117 of them. He is credited with efforts in establishing a centre for respiratory diseases and sleep medicine at AIIMS, which is reported to be a first in India. He is a recipient of the Raj Nanda Pulmonary Disease Fellowship from the Raj Nanda Trust and the Royal College of Physicians, UK and is an elected fellow (2011) of the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS). He sits on the editorial boards of a number of medical journals such as the Indian Journal of Chest Diseases, Lung India, Journal of American Medical Association and Chest India.
Randeep Guleria was included by the Government of India in the 2015 Republic Day honours list for the civilian award of Padma Shri. He lives in Delhi, adjacent to the AIIMS campus.

Presentation 11:30 - 11:45

Air quality monitoring & forecasting: Overview

Several SDGs are impacted by the technologies described during the thematic G-STIC sessions:

Air quality monitoring
Air quality monitoring in low- and middle-income countries needs to be strengthened, especially in areas close to hospitals, schools, and workplaces. Low-cost sensors and other new technologies can expand air quality monitoring and forecasting to areas that are currently underserved. New protocols and standards are needed to guide the effective use and interpretation of data produced by low-cost sensors in citizen science and other applications.

Health sector emissions
Access to reliable and sustainable energy in healthcare facilities is essential to achieve the goal of universal health coverage. On-site renewable energy generation in healthcare facilities can improve access to healthcare services, especially in rural, developing world settings. In developed countries, hospitals are among the most energy-intensive buildings. By reducing its own carbon footprint, the health sector can show how climate change mitigation produces concrete health benefits.

Equipping national health workforces
National health workforces must be capable of dealing with the immediate impacts of air pollution on the health of populations, and to inform policymakers to undertake preventive action to reduce the air pollution-related disease burden. There are currently few training programmes on air pollution and its health effects, and little related information, in public health education.

Children’s health
Globally, 93% of children under 18 live with air pollution levels above WHO guidelines. Air pollution causes over half of all child deaths from acute lower respiratory infection in children under 5 years in lower middle-income countries. Air pollution exposure is linked to a wide range of adverse health outcomes in children, including infant mortality, asthma, neurodevelopmental disorders, and childhood cancers. By “prescribing” clean air for children, policymakers can protect them from the lifelong effects of air pollution exposure.

Randeep Guleria

Randeep Guleria

All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)

Pulmonologist & Critical Care Specialist, Director & CEO of AIIMS

Randeep Guleria did his medical studies at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) Chandigarh, from where he secured his MD in general medicine and DM in pulmonary medicine. He joined the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and rose in ranks to become a professor and the head of the department of Pulmonology and Sleep Disorders. He is currently the Director and C.E.O. of AIIMS, New Delhi. He is associated with the World Health Organization (WHO) as a member of its Scientific Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunisation and influenza vaccination. He is a life member of the Association of Physicians of India, Indian Chest Society and the National College of Chest Physicians of India. He also serves as a consultant to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna on issued related to radiation protection.
Guleria has been the personal physician to late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Prime Minister of India since 1998 and is credited with research on pulmonary diseases. His research findings have been recorded by way of 36 book chapters and 268 articles; ResearchGate, an online knowledge repository has published 117 of them. He is credited with efforts in establishing a centre for respiratory diseases and sleep medicine at AIIMS, which is reported to be a first in India. He is a recipient of the Raj Nanda Pulmonary Disease Fellowship from the Raj Nanda Trust and the Royal College of Physicians, UK and is an elected fellow (2011) of the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS). He sits on the editorial boards of a number of medical journals such as the Indian Journal of Chest Diseases, Lung India, Journal of American Medical Association and Chest India.
Randeep Guleria was included by the Government of India in the 2015 Republic Day honours list for the civilian award of Padma Shri. He lives in Delhi, adjacent to the AIIMS campus.

Presentation 11:45 - 12:00

Wearable Sensors and Mobile Technologies for Estimating Health Effects of Air Pollution

Air pollution impinges on at least three sustainable development goals: Good Health and Well-being, Sustainable Cities and Communities and Climate Action. Population-level epidemiological studies have provided overwhelming clinical evidence linking air pollution with conditions such as lung cancer, stroke, heart disease, asthma, emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

The Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health estimated that mortality due to the effects of air pollution was 6.4 million people worldwide in the year 2015. Over 90 percent of these deaths occur in rapidly industrialising megacities such as Beijing, Delhi, Lagos and Rio de Janeiro, in low, middle, and upper income countries.

Ambient air quality monitors, wearable personal exposure monitors and mobile phone technology can deliver relatively low-cost solutions for providing ambient air quality and personal exposure information with a finer spatial resolution than hitherto possible. Such accurate personal exposure information can be used to provide prompts, nudges and advice for action on their mobile phones which are personalised to their health condition. Experiences of deploying these technologies in countries across four continents – India, Mexico, Uganda and the United Kingdom, lessons learnt on their efficacy and uptake by people, and plans going forward for novel approaches to estimating personalised health effects of air pollution will be discussed.

D. K.  Arvind

D. K. Arvind

Centre for Speckled Computing, School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh

Professor

D. K. Arvind is a Full Professor in the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, where he holds a Personal Chair in Distributed Wireless Computation (2010-present), and is the CITRIS Visiting Professor (2007-15; 2018-26) at the University of California at Berkeley, USA. He is the Director of the Centre for Speckled Computing and has been the Principal Investigator (PI) on projects funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Medical Research Council (MRC), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Scottish Funding Council (SFC), EU Framework 7, Scottish Enterprise, US Office of Naval Research, US Air Force Research Laboratory, World Health Organisation (WHO) and by leading technology companies including ARM, Dialog Semiconductors, Hitachi, Panasonic, Sharp, Sun Research Labs, Selex Galileo and Xilinx.
He was the PI and founding Director of the £5.3M EPSRC- and SFC-funded Research Consortium in Speckled Computing (2004-09): an interdisciplinary consortium of computer scientists, electrochemists, physicists and electronic engineers drawn from 5 UK universities, which pioneered the development of the Internet of Things. He is the PI of several current research projects investigating the health effects of air pollution and clinical trials using wearable sensors and sensor data analytics algorithms developed in his research Centre. He has lead multidisciplinary teams including clinicians, exposure scientists, engineers (DAPHNE); clinicians, social scientists and designers (PHILAP); clinicians, exposure scientists and toxicologists (PEEPs); clinicians, modellers, cell biologists, and material scientists (INHALE).

Presentation 12:00 - 12:15

Monitoring of air pollution and exposure modelling in India using a hybrid approach

Exposure to air pollution has been identified as a major health risk in India. The first step to deal with the problem is to “know” the extent of the problem. India’s ground-based monitoring network is inadequate and alternate monitoring is the need of the hour. To address this gap, a high-resolution (1-km) ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) database has been developed for India over more than two decades by integrating satellite, reanalysis and ground-based measurements.

Exposure assessment reveals that the urban and rural exposure increased by the almost similar margin between 2000 to 2015, after which the rising trend was somewhat arrested due to the implementation of various national programs. Emissions from household sources were found to be the single largest source of ambient PM2.5 in India at a regional scale. Using the exposure data, the association of several health outcomes (e.g. child stunting and wasting, anaemia, hypertension) are being examined. The ambient PM2.5 exposure is projected to increase till 2030 under a moderate climate change scenario and until 2040 under a severe climate change scenario, without any major policy.

If India follows a short-lived climate pollutant mitigation emission pathway to reduce the air pollution exposure in near future, it would come at a cost of an additional 0.3-0.5° C warming, but 381,790 (5-95% CI: 275,620-514,600) deaths can be avoided relative to the baseline scenario. India has a unique opportunity to address air pollution and climate change simultaneously and it must do so to alleviate the staggering health burden attributed to air pollution exposure in the present and projected in the future.

Sagnik  Dey

Sagnik Dey

Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

Professor

Sagnik Dey is Institute Chair and Associate Professor at the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, IIT Delhi. He is also Coordinator of the Centre of Excellence for Research on Clean Air (CERCA), IIT Delhi and an associate faculty at the School of Public Policy, IIT Delhi.

Dey’s research focuses on understanding the air pollution-climate-health nexus using observations and modelling. He has published more than 95 peer-reviewed articles in international journals with h-index of 32 (as per SCOPUS). He received INSA Young Scientist Medal in 2008, NASI-SCOPUS Young Scientist Award in 2012, Dr Sudhansu Kumar Banerji MoES Outstanding Young Faculty Fellowship in 2011-2013, Institute Teaching Excellence Award in 2016 and Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship in 2017-18. He is a collaborator of the Global Burden of Disease and Local Burden of Disease Study. He is an international collaborator of NASA’s upcoming MAIA mission and Citizen Science program.

Dey is an expert member of the WHO Southeast Asia regional technical advisory group on non- communicable diseases. He is currently the Associate Editor of Atmospheric Environment (Elsevier journal) and Editorial Board Member of Scientific Reports (Nature journal) and Earth System Dynamics (EGU journal). He is actively involved in various national and international programs on air pollution, climate and health studies.

Presentation 12:15 - 12:30

OPAQ, an operational model for air quality forecasting and mapping

About a decade ago, VITO developed OPAQ, an operational model for air quality forecasting and mapping. The model was initially designed for the Belgian context and developed in close collaboration with the Belgian and Flemish Environment Agencies. After successful deployment in Belgium, the OPAQ model turned out to be a robust, reliable and affordable tool in other countries as well.

VITO has implemented the tool in Poland, Slovakia, Croatia and Hungary while LiboVITO, VITO’s subsidiarity in China, has deployed the OPAQ tool in more than 40 Chinese regions and cities. Most recently, OPAQ has been configured and set up for Delhi, India in close cooperation with TERI and the Central Pollution Control Board. OPAQ offers environment agencies an easy to use and reliable software product to forecast air pollution episodes and map air quality in their cities, regions and countries.

Stijn Janssen

Stijn Janssen

VITO

Program Manager

Stijn Janssen is Program Manager at VITO’s Geo and Atmosphere modelling team. He obtained a degree in civil engineering and received a PhD in physics in 2002. Stijn joined VITO’s Air Quality Modelling team in 2005 and built up experience in air quality and emission modelling. He and his team are using advanced air quality models to assess air quality from local to regional scale and to support the development of air pollution mitigation strategies.

Stijn Janssen is co-chair of FAIRMODE, the European Forum for Air Quality Modelling, and works in close collaboration with LiboVITO, VITO’s local office in China, to bring air quality services to the Chinese market.

Presentation 12:30 - 12:45

Role of air quality modeling in air pollution mitigation in India

Air quality is a serious concern in India. Data plays an important role in sensitising the general public and policymakers to enable them to take appropriate measures for control. The need and importance of air quality modelling and the output datasets in Indian context are highlighted at both regional and urban scales, demonstrating their usefulness. The effectiveness of air quality modelling in understanding the changing air quality scenario during the COVID-19 lockdowns has been further demonstrated. Based on the analysis, key strategies for control of pollution at regional and urban scale are suggested.

Sumit  Sharma

Sumit Sharma

TERI

Senior Fellow and Director of Earth Science and Climate Change Division

Sumit Sharma is a Senior Fellow and Director of Earth Science and Climate Change Division at TERI. He graduated from Delhi College of Engineering and received his MTech and PhD degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi. He has been working at TERI for the last 17 years and is presently leading a group of about 50 researchers focusing on various local and global environmental issues. He has worked on more than 50 projects related to air quality management, involving scientific research assessments, policy advocacy, outreach, capacity building, and awareness generation.

Sumit Sharma’s scientific work includes assessments based on air quality monitoring, emission inventorisation, urban and regional scale air quality modelling, and air quality management planning. He has worked on pollution source apportionment studies carried out for different cities/regions in India to address regional and urban scale particulate and ozone pollution. He has worked on state-of-the-art chemical transport models for providing scientific evidences to help decision making for air quality improvement in current and future scenarios. He has been working with the central and state government of India to design air quality management plans for control of air pollution in India.

Presentation 12:45 - 13:00

History and status of air quality monitoring and forecasting in Japan

In Japan, a monitoring network has been established to check air quality status in general environments and roadsides. Data from over 1,000 monitoring stations operating throughout Japan have confirmed that ambient concentrations of critical pollutants are gradually decreasing. However, concentrations of PM2.5 and ozone at some stations still exceed the national standards.
Various components are included in PM2.5. Origins and formation mechanisms are different for different components. Information of PM2.5 components are necessary to consider effective mitigation strategies. The local governments are requested to perform special monitoring campaigns to measure concentrations of PM2.5 components for two weeks in every season. The government also installed automatic monitoring instruments to measure hourly concentrations of PM2.5 components. Ozone is formed from NOX and VOCs and the potential for ozone formation is different for different VOCs. The government started the automatic monitoring for concentrations of individual species in VOCs. These specific monitoring measures are necessary for tackling issues related to secondary pollutants including PM2.5 and ozone.
The criteria have been set to issue alerts for heavy air pollution caused by PM2.5 and ozone. The government and the National Institute for Environmental Studies have been developing the air quality forecasting system to help issuing alerts. The air quality model embedded in the system is also used to evaluate the effectiveness of potential emission controls on air quality involving secondary pollutants.

Satoru  Chatani

Satoru Chatani

National Institute for Environmental Studies

Senior researcher in the Center for Regional Environmental Research

Satoru Chatani is a Senior researcher in the Center for Regional Environmental Research at the National Institute for Environmental Studies. He holds a Master of Engineering from Kyoto University (1998) and graduated as a Doctor of Science from the Graduate School of Environmental Studies (Nagoya University) in 2011.

Satoru Chatani has worked at Toyota Central R&D Labs from 1998 until 2015. Since 2015, he has been working at the National Institute for Environmental Studies. His research is focused on atmospheric environment, air pollution, air quality simulation, and emission inventory.

Health

Deep dive session

Air quality and its linkages to health

26/10/2020, 11:30 - 13:00

Watch this session

Air pollution is the single largest environmental health risk, causing more preventable diseases than any other environmental pollution and killing 7 million people every year. Exposure to air pollution is a major risk factor for noncommunicable diseases such as heart diseases, strokes, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, lung cancer and respiratory infections such as childhood pneumonia. With 9 out of 10 people breathing polluted air, the burden on public health is substantial. Reducing air pollution requires us to address the main sources, including the inefficient production, use and distribution of energy, the low energy efficiency in houses, buildings and manufacturing, and unsuitable solid waste management systems.

Chaired by

Randeep Guleria

Randeep Guleria

All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)

Pulmonologist & Critical Care Specialist, Director & CEO of AIIMS

Randeep Guleria did his medical studies at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) Chandigarh, from where he secured his MD in general medicine and DM in pulmonary medicine. He joined the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and rose in ranks to become a professor and the head of the department of Pulmonology and Sleep Disorders. He is currently the Director and C.E.O. of AIIMS, New Delhi. He is associated with the World Health Organization (WHO) as a member of its Scientific Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunisation and influenza vaccination. He is a life member of the Association of Physicians of India, Indian Chest Society and the National College of Chest Physicians of India. He also serves as a consultant to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna on issued related to radiation protection.
Guleria has been the personal physician to late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Prime Minister of India since 1998 and is credited with research on pulmonary diseases. His research findings have been recorded by way of 36 book chapters and 268 articles; ResearchGate, an online knowledge repository has published 117 of them. He is credited with efforts in establishing a centre for respiratory diseases and sleep medicine at AIIMS, which is reported to be a first in India. He is a recipient of the Raj Nanda Pulmonary Disease Fellowship from the Raj Nanda Trust and the Royal College of Physicians, UK and is an elected fellow (2011) of the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS). He sits on the editorial boards of a number of medical journals such as the Indian Journal of Chest Diseases, Lung India, Journal of American Medical Association and Chest India.
Randeep Guleria was included by the Government of India in the 2015 Republic Day honours list for the civilian award of Padma Shri. He lives in Delhi, adjacent to the AIIMS campus.

Presentation 11:35 - 11:50

Overview of impact of air pollution on health

In India, Government initiatives had begun to reduce solid fuel use for tackling household air pollution. This scheme had planned to provide clean and safe cooking fuel (liquefied petroleum gas) to 50 million low-income households by March 2019, by adding 10,000 more distributors, increasing access, and covering nearly all the upfront costs of switching for low-income households.

Encouragingly, the original target of 50 million households was met in August 2018, and the government has now increased the target to reach 80 million households through this scheme with a total budget of US$1·8 billion.

Liquefied petroleum gas meets the International Standards Organization and WHO recommendations, and can potentially help in achieving the WHO air quality standards within homes, but adoption and sustained use of clean fuels by households will be needed. Income, education, and urban location have been shown to be associated with the adoption of cleaner stoves and fuels, and better understanding of the role of uninterrupted fuel availability and prices as well as household size, composition, and gender roles in decision making can help to achieve sustained use. Targeted and innovative subsidies for liquefied petroleum gas appear necessary to increase and sustain the use of clean cooking fuels and have the potential to transform the

Randeep Guleria

Randeep Guleria

All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)

Pulmonologist & Critical Care Specialist, Director & CEO of AIIMS

Randeep Guleria did his medical studies at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) Chandigarh, from where he secured his MD in general medicine and DM in pulmonary medicine. He joined the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and rose in ranks to become a professor and the head of the department of Pulmonology and Sleep Disorders. He is currently the Director and C.E.O. of AIIMS, New Delhi. He is associated with the World Health Organization (WHO) as a member of its Scientific Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunisation and influenza vaccination. He is a life member of the Association of Physicians of India, Indian Chest Society and the National College of Chest Physicians of India. He also serves as a consultant to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna on issued related to radiation protection.
Guleria has been the personal physician to late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Prime Minister of India since 1998 and is credited with research on pulmonary diseases. His research findings have been recorded by way of 36 book chapters and 268 articles; ResearchGate, an online knowledge repository has published 117 of them. He is credited with efforts in establishing a centre for respiratory diseases and sleep medicine at AIIMS, which is reported to be a first in India. He is a recipient of the Raj Nanda Pulmonary Disease Fellowship from the Raj Nanda Trust and the Royal College of Physicians, UK and is an elected fellow (2011) of the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS). He sits on the editorial boards of a number of medical journals such as the Indian Journal of Chest Diseases, Lung India, Journal of American Medical Association and Chest India.
Randeep Guleria was included by the Government of India in the 2015 Republic Day honours list for the civilian award of Padma Shri. He lives in Delhi, adjacent to the AIIMS campus.

Presentation 11:50 - 12:05

Connecting Local and Global Research on Air Pollution and Health

The last four decades have seen expansive growth in exposure, epidemiologic, and toxicologic research linking air pollution to a variety of important lung, heart, and other health outcomes. The growing body of evidence has led global and national health and air pollution agencies, including the World Health Organization, the European Union, the United States, and more to conclude that air pollution is a serious risk factor for public health. In the last decade the systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease from all risk factors – under the aegis of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, USA – has applied this detailed science to conclude that air pollution from outdoor and household sources, is the leading environmental risk factor for poor health, and the fourth highest risk factor overall (following only diet, high blood pressure, and tobacco use).
As this evidence has grown, scientists and public officials in many low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) have, somewhat understandably, questioned whether the earliest evidence – largely from higher income countries – could be applied to their populations, with different underlying health, diets, and cultures. However, a large number of new studies in LMICs, starting with studies conducted under the auspices of the Health Effects Institute by investigators in China, India, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, and added to by studies supported by LMIC governments, are also finding robust evidence of links between air pollution and health, supporting efforts by LMIC governments to take action to control air pollution.
This presentation will summarize the worlds evidence and the Global Burden of Disease findings (including from HEI’s new State of Global Air 2020) and present the latest results from LMICs and how they reinforce the effects of air pollution on lung and heart health.

Dan Greenbaum

Dan Greenbaum

Health Effects Institute

President

Dan Greenbaum is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Health Effects Institute. In that role, Greenbaum leads HEI’s efforts, supported jointly by government and industry, to provide public and private decision makers in the US, Asia, Europe, and Latin America with high quality, impartial, relevant and credible science about the health effects of air pollution to inform air quality decisions in the developed and developing world. HEI is a lead contributor to the Global Burden of Disease for Outdoor Air Pollution and publishes The State of Global Air report and website each year.
Greenbaum has been a member of the U.S. National Academies Board of Environmental Studies and Toxicology and vice-chair of its Committee for Air Quality Management in the United States. He currently serves on the NASEM Committee for the Environmental Health Matters Initiative, and recently chaired the NRC Committee reviewing the US National Assessment of Climate Change and Human Health. In May 2010, Greenbaum received the Thomas W. Zosel Outstanding Individual Achievement Award from U.S. EPA for his contributions to advancing clean air; in June 2017 he received the Haagen Smit Award from the California Air Resources Board for his and HEI’s contributions to air pollution science and policy.
Greenbaum has over four decades of governmental and non-governmental experience in environmental health. Just prior to coming to HEI, he served as Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection where he was responsible for the Commonwealth's response to the Clean Air Act, as well as its award-winning efforts on pollution prevention, water pollution and solid and hazardous waste. Greenbaum holds Bachelor’s & and Master’s degrees from MIT in City Planning.

Presentation 12:05 - 12:20

Nanobiotechnology for a Sustainable & Clean Environment

For achieving most of the seventeen goals of sustainable development, the eco-friendly, cost-effective and sustainable green synthesis of nano-metal and metal oxides with different applications in petroleum bio-upgrading and treatment of environmental pollution is very promising for dimensioning the hazard of climate change and acid rains; producing clean and renewable fuels, saving food and water resources and protecting life beneath water and on land.
Valorisation of agro-industrial wastes into nanomaterials concomitantly with the concept of reaching the point of zero-waste is a very encouraging sustainable solution for waste management, mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and polluted water treatment. This consequently would overcome the problems of climate change and water scarcity, and have a positive impact on human health and ecosystem.
Thus, nanobiotechnology and its wide applications proved to solve many problems in water treatment, energy and industrial sectors with a real achievement for the social, environmental and economic pillars of sustainability.

Nour  El-Gendy

Nour El-Gendy

EPRI – MSA – Cairo University, Egypt

Professor

Nour El-Gendy is a professor of Petroleum and Environmental Biotechnology at the Faculty of Nanotechnology for Postgraduate Studies, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt. She is the Head Manager of Petroleum Biotechnology Lab and Former Acting and Vice Head of Process Design & Development Department at the Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute (EPRI). Furthermore, she is Head of the Technology Innovation Support Centre (TISC) office, vice head of the Centre of Excellence and member in Entrepreneurship Hub at the October University for Modern Sciences and Arts, MSA University.
Besides the above positions, El-Gendy is a member of the Office of Technical, Monitoring and Performance Evaluation, Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT) – Water, Energy and Environment Committee Coordinator. She is Former Advisor for the Egyptian Minster of Environment.
El-Gendy is expert in the field of environmental biotechnology and sustainable development, nanobiotechnology, environmental pollution and climate change, wastewater treatment, biofuels, petroleum upgrading, green chemistry, valorisation of wastes and biocorrosion. She has published 9 chapters, 6 books and 112 research papers, and supervised 27 MSc and PhD thesis. Dr El-Gendy is also an editor and reviewer in 56 and 108 international journals. She has participated also as PI, Co-PI or research member in many international research projects concerning with bioethanol, algal biodiesel, application of nanobiotechnology in upgrading of petroleum and bioremediation of petroleum polluted environment. Dr El-Gendy has participated in 51 international workshops and training courses, and 80 international conferences and seminars. She is also a member in many international associations and organizations concerning with environmental sciences. Her biography is recorded in Who’s Who in Science and Engineering.

Presentation 12:20 - 12:35

Air Pollution and One Health

‘One Health’ is a collaborative interdisciplinary approach to optimise public health from local to global scale by designing and implementing programmes, policies and research that account for interconnections between people, animals, plants and their shared environment. All the disciplines encompassing One Health have a similar paradigm as all of them contribute in each other’s overall health and general well-being. Moreover, the past century has witnessed changes in global climate and land use, such as urbanisation, deforestation and farming practices. The expanding human populations often result in close contacts with not only domestic animals, both livestock and pets, but also wild animals. Similarly, plants and microbes form an integral component of human ecosystem. Interactions with them could be beneficial, or harmful, thus resulting in passing of diseases between plants, animals and people, which quickly cross borders to spread globally through international trade and travel.
Air pollution is known to cause variety of negative health outcomes in humans, including reduced lung function, increased susceptibility to infections, increasing airway inflammation, neurological disorders and increased cardiovascular dysfunctions. Air pollution is emerging to be the biggest contributor to increased mortality due to respiratory diseases such as COPD, asthma and lung cancer. Not only humans, but plants and animals as well are known to be adversely affected by it. Animals exposed to polluted air develop adverse respiratory effects, decreased immunity and reproductive success, neurological and brain damage as well as genetic changes. Moreover, plants, although tolerant to low bouts of air pollution, show signs of stress and decreased growth and reproductive abilities in high air pollution habitats, and are also known to harbour opportunistic microbes, which may be transmitted to humans, thus causing diseases.
Thus, transdisciplinary research, discussions and development of policies between experts in public health, animal health, plant health and the environment are the need of the hour in order to monitor and forecast the adversities that may be caused due to air pollution. Thus, ‘One Health’ is especially important in the current day scenario where the significance of zoonoses monitoring and control has become global priority.

Vartika  Mathur

Vartika Mathur

Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi

Head, Animal-Plant Interactions lab and Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology, Sri Venkateswara College University of Delhi

Vartika Mathur is the Head, Animal-Plant Interactions lab in the Department of Zoology, Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi, with more than 16 years of teaching and research experience. She is also the in-charge of microbial culture facility and has a repository of more than 450 microbial symbionts isolated from various plants and animals.
Mathur was the first Indian to receive the prestigious NFP PhD fellowship from NUFFIC in the Netherlands. She was awarded ‘Young Scientist of the year (2015)’ by the International foundation of Environment and Ecology, and the European Mobility grant for International Laureates (2010) by CDI-UEB, for advanced research in University of Rennes, France. She has been awarded 15 National and International research grants from various Government and private organisations, including Nuffic, NAM S&T Centre, UGC, SERB, DST, DU, Eureka Forbes and PI industries. She has authored 3 books, 15 publications in International and National peer-reviewed journals, 8 book chapters and e-chapters, and 1 patent to her credit.
She has been working on ecological, chemical and molecular aspect of intricate animal, plant and microbe interactions for their sustainable utilisation in health, agriculture and environment sectors. Her ongoing National and International research collaborations focus on interdisciplinary research for natural resource management and sustainable strategies for therapeutics, biodiversity conservation, crop management and environmental protection.

Presentation 12:35 - 12:50

Oxidative Properties of Ambient Particulate Matter – A new framework for assessing the health effects and toxicity of PM2.5

The capability of ambient particulate matter (PM) to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS), conveniently called the oxidative potential is proposed as a better metric for relating the PM pollution with health effects. Using measurement data of the oxidative potential of ambient PM from different geographical locations of the world, current studies in this direction are helping to develop useful insights on the origin of PM toxicity leading to a better assessment of the human health effects of ambient particulate pollution.

Vishal  Verma

Vishal Verma

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, USA

Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Presentation 12:50 - 13:00

Q&A – Air quality and its linkages to health

Health

Deep dive session

Major technology clusters for COVID-19 prevention and treatment

26/10/2020, 15:15 - 16:45

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The ability to identify, develop, and produce the necessary tools to strengthen preparedness, prevent infections, and treat patients is critical to control the current COVID-19 pandemic. These tools include diagnostic testing, vaccines, respirators, intensive therapy units, robots, big data and artificial intelligence.  International, national and local authorities, private companies, and civil society organisations took on the challenge and built alliances to intensify the research and development needed to face this unprecedented crisis.  This deep dive will explore the relevant achievements of these research, development, and innovation experiences.  It will also highlight the underlying strategies behind the development of technology for diagnostics, surveillance, and treatment, for saving lives and controlling the pandemic spread.

Chaired by

Marco  Krieger

Marco Krieger

Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz)

Vice-President of Health, Production and Innovation

Marco Krieger has a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from the Federal University of Paraná (1987), a Master’s degree in Biological Sciences (Biophysics) from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1989) and a PhD in Biological Sciences (Biophysics) from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1997). He is currently the Vice-President of Health Production and Innovation in Health, Fiocruz, an institution linked to the Brazilian Ministry of Health (Brazil). Previously, he was Deputy Director of Technological Development, Prototyping and Production at the Carlos Chagas Institute, Fiocruz (2009-2017), and Technical Coordinator of the Fiocruz production facility for Nucleic Acid Diagnostics. He has experience in Genetics, with emphasis on Molecular Parasitology, working mainly on the following topics: Trypanosoma cruzi, gene expression, functional genomics, cell differentiation and use of Molecular Biology techniques for the development of diagnostic tests. He is the author of several publications (159, h index 27), including 6 patents.

Presentation 15:20 - 15:40

Alliance for research and development of vaccine candidates

Mariângela  Simão

Mariângela Simão

World Health Organization (WHO)

Assistant Director-General Access to Medicines and Health Products

Mariângela Simão joined WHO in November 2017, as part of WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ leadership team. She previously worked for UNAIDS since September 2010 and prior to that, she worked for the Ministry of Health in Brazil as the Director of the Sexually Transmitted Diseases, HIV/ AIDS and Viral Hepatitis department.

Simão worked in the Brazilian public health system since 1982, from the primary health care level to a series of managerial positions throughout the years. As a public health professional, at municipal, state and national levels, she played an active role in the decentralisation of the national health system, acquiring an extensive experience in health system strengthening. She has also served on the boards of a number of organizations and government committees related to public health and HIV.
Heading the National Sexually Transmitted Diseases/HIV/AIDS Department (including Viral Hepatitis from 2009), she had the responsibility of overseeing and implementing the national Sexually Transmitted Diseases/AIDS/Viral Hepatitis policies, including universal and free-of-charge access to treatment, care and comprehensive prevention programs. Dr Simão attended medical school in Brazil, with degrees in Paediatrics and Public Health, and a MSc in Mother and Child Health in the UK.

Presentation 15:40 - 16:00

Transforming diagnostics to solve global health issues

Rangarajan  Sampath

Rangarajan Sampath

Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND)

Chief Scientific Officer

Rangarajan Sampath joined FIND as its Chief Scientific Officer in September 2017, where he leads the organisation’s R&D and clinical departments and contributes to shaping and implementing FIND’s portfolio strategies. Dr Sampath is a key member of FIND’s Executive Management team, which defines the overall business strategy and direction of the organisation, mobilising resources to enable the implementation of FIND’s mission.

Prior to this, Dr. Sampath served as a Volwiler Senior Research Fellow and Senior Director of R&D for the Ibis Division of Abbott. He led Ibis’ R&D efforts in infectious disease diagnostics, antimicrobial resistance diagnostics and surveillance, and was responsible for applications development, validation, data analysis and reporting for the Ibis PCR/ESI-MS based IRIDICA platform. Dr Sampath was the co-founder of Ibis Biosciences, Inc. and a co-inventor of the IRIDICA (CE-IVD) infectious disease diagnostics platform.

Sampath is a recognised leader in the field, with over 200 publications and presentations and over 40 issued patents in infectious disease diagnostics. He was an invited participant at the White House National Forum on Antibiotic Stewardship and was an active member of the AdvamedDx Industry Forum for the global commitment on developing diagnostic tests to fight AMR. He has been an invited speaker at many public forums such as at the Institute of Medicine, Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and Parenteral Drug Association (PDA). He was a key member of an FDA/PDA task force involved in defining the future of viral screening for cell substrates. Dr Sampath is currently serving his first of three-year term as a member of the Diagnostics Committee for IDSA. His research interests include antimicrobial strategy development, pathogen discovery, fevers of unknown origin, tropical diseases, epidemiological surveillance and biothreat detection.

Presentation 16:00 - 16:20

Challenges to fast-track the development of vaccines

Tonya  Villafana

Tonya Villafana

AstraZeneca

Global Head for the COVID-19 pipeline

Presentation 16:20 - 16:40

COVID-19 Long-term Suppression Strategy, Republic of Korea

As we have entered several months of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are surges of cases in many parts of the world. Traditional pandemic preparedness plans address containment and mitigation strategies against novel pathogens. However, given the limited pharmaceutical intervention, containment measures entail large economic costs, which adversely affect public health safety. In this context, the challenge is to find the balance between keeping the economy and society functioning, while also maintaining the spread of SARS-CoV-2 under control.

The Republic of Korea was one of the initial outbreak countries in earlier phase but has now flattened the curve with less than 50 new cases per day during the past 2 months. In preparation for ‘long-tail’ of COVID-19 incidences, the strategy has shifted to protect both public health and societal functions; thus, forming a hybrid strategy, namely COVID-19 Long-term Suppression (LTS) strategy.

Young June Choe

Young June Choe

Hallym University College of Medicine

Assistant Professor Department of Social and Preventive Medicine

Young June Choe is an Assistant Professor in Social and Preventive Medicine at Hallym University College of Medicine, South Korea, and a Public Health Research Consultant at UNICEF. A paediatrician by training, subspecialised in infectious diseases at Seoul National University College of Medicine and the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, his primary responsibility is teaching introductory module in epidemiology to med students. His research addresses quantification of and understanding the mechanisms of immunisation programmes’ impact on public health. In recent years he’s been focused on studies of respiratory virus transmission in the community and the effectiveness of control measures.

Health

Deep dive session

STI roadmaps as a tool to build preparedness and resilience to COVID-19 and future health crises

27/10/2020, 17:00 - 18:30

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The mitigation and prevention of the effects of pandemics and other health crises depend on the preparedness of health systems and society in general. From the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has learned that Science, Technology, and Innovation play a fundamental role in identifying and preventing damage and controlling the problem. STI roadmaps for the SDGs are an essential tool to increase countries’ capability to respond to these situations. In this sense, a series of activities are being developed, in partnership between the UN Technological Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) and some countries, to test a methodology that will help to establish or improve national and international STI capacity.

Questions such as
– How can STI roadmaps for the SDGs be used to establish preparedness and response to zoonotic diseases from short and long term perspectives?
– What are the key factors to enhance social and economic resilience to health crises?
– What are desirable frameworks of international cooperation for advancing R&D?
– What is the role of education in the preparation for COVID-19 containment and future crises?

guide discussions on how STI roadmaps for the SDGs can help establish adequate preparedness and responsiveness to health crises, along with the examination of the results from recent experiences with these roadmaps.

Chaired by

Michiharu Nakamura

Michiharu Nakamura

Japan Science and Technology Agency

Senior Advisor (Former President)

Nakamura graduated from the University of Tokyo and joined Hitachi Central Research Laboratory in 1967, where he was engaged in compound semiconductors and optoelectronics research. He was a pioneer of semiconductor DFB laser development. In 2004, he was appointed Executive Vice President and Executive Officer of Hitachi Ltd., and then assumed a position of Board of Director till September 2011. He was responsible for corporate technology development and new business incubation. He was a visiting Researcher at California Institute of Technology in 1972-73. He is entitled IEEE fellow, JSAP fellow, and IEICE fellow for his engineering achievements in optoelectronics.

In 2011, he assumed the office of the President of Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), where policy-driven R&D funding is a major mission. Also, the dissemination of scientific information, science education for young generation, and science communication are among its current activities. He endeavoured to achieve high-impact innovations based on advanced R&D. After completing four- year presidency, he has been serving as the Counsellor to the President and Advisor for Science and Technology of JST since October 2015.

He has been actively working on industrial science and technology strategy. He served as Working Committee Chairman of Council of Competitiveness Japan (COCN) from 2008-2011 and pursued new industrial R&D initiatives under close collaboration with government and academia. He also served for Industrial R&D Committee of the Japan Business Federation, Tsukuba Global Innovation Promotion Agency, Industrial Committee for Supercomputing Promotion, Industrial User Society for Neutron Application, and Nanotechnology Business Creation Initiative.

Presentation 17:05 - 17:25

The development of STI Roadmaps and its benefits for health crises preparedness

The Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, unanimously adopted by the United Nations member states in 2015, launched the Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) to support implementation of the SDGs. “Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Policy Frameworks, Action Plans and Roadmaps” has been one of TFM’s key deliverables, advancing multi-stakeholder dialogues including through previous G-STIC conferences, producing a joint guidebook, launching the first phase of the global pilot program and promoting international partnerships to improve functioning of science-policy interfaces and harnessing technology and innovation for the populations needing them the most. This presentation will introduce the background and current state of the related initiatives and discuss their relevance to health crises preparedness.

Naoto  Kanehira

Naoto Kanehira

World Bank

Senior Private Sector Specialist

Naoto Kanehira is a Senior Private Sector Specialist at the World Bank. Leading and contributing to operations and initiatives on science, technology and innovation at corporate, country, regional and global levels, he has co-led the work on STI for SDGs Roadmaps at the UN Inter-Agency Task Team on Science, Technology and Innovation (IATT-STI), and currently serves as the secretariat for World Bank’s Covid-19 vaccine delivery taskforce in support of the $12 billion commitment for vaccine purchase and delivery by developing countries. Prior to joining the World Bank, Naoto co-founded a mobile internet software start-up in 1998 and worked for McKinsey from 2000 to 2010. Naoto holds an MPA from Harvard University and an MSc in Management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Presentation 17:25 - 17:45

Lessons from the Vietnamese experience with health Roadmaps

Meng Ling Moi

Meng Ling Moi

Nagasaki University

Professor at the Institute of Tropical Medicine (NUITM), Deputy Director at the WHOCC for Reference and Research on Tropical and Emerging Viral Diseases

Moi is a virologist who has been working on prevention measures against tropical and emerging virus diseases. Her research focuses on viral pathogenesis and transmission, diagnostics and vaccine development, surveillance of viral emergence, and population immunity to tracking viral spread, epidemiology, and field research.

Moi’s projects have led to the successful development of in vitro and in vivo models for dengue vaccine evaluation studies. These novel models have also led to a better understanding of the immune responses induced after dengue and zika virus infection. Moi is currently the Deputy Head of WHOCC for Reference and Research of Tropical and Emerging Virus Diseases (JPN-67). She is working closely with WHO GLAD-HP and GOARN, local and international communities to reduce the global spread of high threat pathogens diseases and to improve rapid diagnostics to these outbreaks, including Zika and SARS-CoV-2.

Presentation 17:45 - 18:05

COVID-19 in Ethiopia: Facts and resilience strategies through strong partnerships

Solomon  Benor

Solomon Benor

Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MoSHE), Ethiopia

PhD, Director General for Science and Research Affairs

Solomon Benor is currently working as a Director General for Science and Research Affairs at the Ethiopian Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MoSHE); he is also affiliated to the Department of Biotechnology of the Addis Ababa Science and Technology University. Dr Solomon is Plant Biotechnologist with over 23 years of research experiences in biodiversity conservation, plant biotechnology, plant breeding, and environmental sciences.

Solomon has extensive national and international research work experiences. He worked as a Post-Doctoral Scientist at Biosciences for Eastern and Central Africa (BecA) in Nairobi, Kenya; Research Fellow at Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Research in Gatersleben, Germany; TWAS Research Fellow at Nanjing Agricultural University in Nanjing, China; Researcher at Norwegian Institute of Gene Ecology in Tromsoe, Norway; Lecturer at Hawassa University, Ethiopia; and Plant Breeder at Sirinka Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopia. Dr Solomon has produced numerous scientific papers published in internationally peer-reviewed journals.

He is currently serving as Associate Editor of the Ethiopian Journal of Crop Science; Associate Editor of the Abyssinian Journal of Science and Technology; Executive Member of the Crop Science Society of Ethiopia; and Member of the Biological Society of Ethiopia. Dr Solomon is a nationally recognized researcher and awarded by the Abyssinian International Award in 2019 for his life-time research achievements and community services in Plant Science research areas. Educational backgrounds of Dr Solomon include PhD in Plant Biotechnology at Kassel University, Germany; M.Phil in Plant Molecular Biology at Tromsoe University, Norway; BSc in Plant Sciences at Haramaya University, Ethiopia; and Diploma in Animal Sciences at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.

Health ICT

Deep dive session

Digital revolution and social technologies for pandemic control and social resilience

26/10/2020, 17:00 - 18:30

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During the pandemic, social technologies associated with digital tools became essential to the implementation of Nonpharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs). Partnership between communities and scientists developed several initiatives, focused on increasing the protection of vulnerable populations as well as establishing innovative methodologies, associating geoprocessing, big data and social cartography, to implement active surveillance of COVID-19. At the same time, health professionals used telehealth, robotics, and artificial intelligence tools to reach out to patients at home, or in the isolation areas of the hospitals. The use of such technologies enabled them to reach out to distant communities and save precious resources. This deep dive session will discuss successful experiences and will identify opportunities and challenges to further develop and implement the use of these tools in public health interventions.

Chaired by

Luiz Paulo Assad

Luiz Paulo Assad

Laboratory of Computational Methods in Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (LAMCE)

Technical Coordinator of the Environmental Modelling Centre at LAMCE

Luiz Paulo Assad has a degree in Oceanography from the State University of Rio de Janeiro, a master’s degree in Physical Oceanography from the University of São Paulo and a doctorate in Civil Engineering from the Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute of Graduate Studies and Engineering Research. He is currently an adjunct professor in the Department of Meteorology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and also a permanent professor in the Graduate Program in Meteorology of that department. Researcher and technical coordinator of the Environmental Modeling Nucleus of the Laboratory of Computational Methods in Engineering (LAMCE/COPPE) that represents the Rio de Janeiro AIR Centre Office. He is also a collaborating professor in the Civil Engineering Program at COPPE. He has experience in the field of Physical Oceanography, with an emphasis on oceanic computational modelling, acting mainly on the following themes: global and regional oceanic computational modelling, ocean-atmosphere interaction processes, oil dispersion modelling in the ocean, and analysis of environmental data.

Presentation 17:05 - 17:25

Integration of Environmental Computational Modelling, Data Science and Digital Social Technology to support COVID-19 surveillance.

This presentation intends to synthesize and indicate how atmospheric, oceanographic and climate numerical computational models could be integrated to social and economic information using Data Science techniques and Digital Social technologies to support the challenges associated with COVID-19 surveillance and diffusion forecast.

Luiz Paulo Assad

Luiz Paulo Assad

Laboratory of Computational Methods in Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (LAMCE)

Technical Coordinator of the Environmental Modelling Centre at LAMCE

Luiz Paulo Assad has a degree in Oceanography from the State University of Rio de Janeiro, a master’s degree in Physical Oceanography from the University of São Paulo and a doctorate in Civil Engineering from the Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute of Graduate Studies and Engineering Research. He is currently an adjunct professor in the Department of Meteorology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and also a permanent professor in the Graduate Program in Meteorology of that department. Researcher and technical coordinator of the Environmental Modeling Nucleus of the Laboratory of Computational Methods in Engineering (LAMCE/COPPE) that represents the Rio de Janeiro AIR Centre Office. He is also a collaborating professor in the Civil Engineering Program at COPPE. He has experience in the field of Physical Oceanography, with an emphasis on oceanic computational modelling, acting mainly on the following themes: global and regional oceanic computational modelling, ocean-atmosphere interaction processes, oil dispersion modelling in the ocean, and analysis of environmental data.

Presentation 17:25 - 17:45

Social technology as a tool for disease tracking among vulnerable populations

The Observatory of Sustainable and Healthy Territories of Bocaina (OTSS) is an initiative that emerges from the partnership between the Forum of Traditional Communities of Angra dos Reis, Paraty and Ubatuba (FCT) and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), supported by the National Health Foundation (Funasa) and Fiotec. The project was created with the aim of promoting Well Living, expanding and qualifying sustainable development in the traditional territories of the Bocaina region with the Caiçaras’s, Indigenous’s and Quilombo’s peoples.

With the perspective of territorialising the Agenda 2030 and promoting well-being through the development of sustainable and healthy territories, the OTSS has as its axes the promotion of social and environmental justice, focusing on:
territorial defense based on legal advice, advocacy and social control;
production of a georeferenced information base and data about the territory, including participatory methodologies such as Social Cartography;
ecological sanitation;
differentiated education;
incubator of social technologies;
agroecology; community-based tourism;
evaluation and territorial monitoring of the Sustainable Development Objectives of the United Nations Agenda 2030.

OTSS is present in more than 100 communities located in a region of exuberant socio-biodiversity, where unsustainable practices of development (real estate speculation, large enterprises, predatory tourism) jeopardise the rights of these peoples, the propagation of their way of life and the sustainability of the Bocaina territory.

Edmundo  Gallo

Edmundo Gallo

Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz)

Coordinator of the Observatory of Sustainable and Healthy Territories of Bocaina (OTSS)

Edmundo Gallo has a medical degree from UFPA (1984). He is apecialist in Social Medicine from UFMG (1986), a Master in Public Health from Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (1991), and a Doctor of Science from Fiocruz (2009). He was Municipal Secretary of Health of Belém-PA (1997-1999), Secretary-General and President of the National Council of Health Secretariats (1997-1999), Director of Investments and Strategic Projects of the Ministry of Health (2002-2005) and a consultant to international bodies and government agencies.

Edmundo Gallo has worked in the area of Public Management, with emphasis on Planning and Strategic Management and Sustainable Development and Health Promotion. He is a Principal Researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Senior Researcher at the University of Coimbra – Center for Functional Ecology and General Coordinator of the Observatory of Sustainable Territories and Healthy from Bocaina.

Presentation 17:45 - 18:05

The role of mobile technologies in track and tracing strategies

Digital contact tracing applications have appeared for the first time in the beginning of 2020, with COVID-19, to complement traditional tracing in a galloping outbreak that quickly became a world-wide pandemic. Testing and tracing are central to break the chains of contagion of any infectious disease.

The “manual” contact tracing protocol is, however, highly dependent on people’s memory, and it is resource and time consuming. Intuitively, a digital proximity tracing protocol that could be run by any individual would easily scale out and contribute to the completeness and efficiency of the process. This is the aim of the many digital contact tracing apps being deployed and whose efficacy will need to be assessed in a few months. This talk will present Europe’s take on digital contact tracing with emphasis on the Portuguese system; technology, system’s architecture, data protection, usability and evaluation.

Rui Oliveira

Rui Oliveira

University of Minho

Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics of University of Minho, Director of the Minho Advanced Computing Centre

Rui Oliveira is an Associate Professor with habilitation at the Department of Informatics of University of Minho, director of the Minho Advanced Computing Centre, Co-Director of the UT Austin Portugal program, and member of the board of INESC TEC. He obtained a PhD degree in Computer Science from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in 2000. His main research contributions have been in the field of fault-tolerant distributed agreement and epidemic multicast algorithms and in the conception, development and assessment of dependable database systems. He coordinated the H2020 SafeCloud project on secure processing in the Cloud and the FP6 GORDA project on open database replication, two previous national projects on scalable dependable databases, ESCADA and StrongRep, and the U. Minho team at the FP7 CumuloNimbo and LeanBigdata projects.

Rui Oliveira counts over 100 research papers on large-scale and dependable distributed systems, and has served on the programme committee of several highly reputed conferences. He has been PC co-chair of IFIP DAIS and IEEE SRDS, General chair of SRDS and ACM Eurosys. Rui Oliveira serves on the Steering Committees of SRDS, Eurosys, Global CENTRA and the Atlantic Interactions Research Centre.

Speakers

Health

Plenary session

Looking beyond COVID-19: Integrated pathways to address health, economy, and climate

COVID-19 confirms the crucial importance of sustainable healthcare systems and technologies in fighting health emergencies. During this plenary session, speakers will shed light on how innovations such as telemedicine, mathematical modelling and off-grid renewable power are helping the fight against COVID-19. They will also highlight how the intensive collaboration among countries, coordinated by the WHO, enables faster development of tests, vaccines, and pharmaceuticals.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic reinforces the need for long-term development models designed around the principle of building a resilient economy that ensures health and wellbeing of all citizens. Plenary speakers will therefore also discuss the need for new technologies that catalyse broader change and tackle the climate change challenges ahead.

Deep dive sessions

Technological innovations for sustainable healthcare

Thematic coordinators

Health

Thematic partners

Thematic partners