Dr. Azeema Fareed, Principal Medical Officer at COMATS Secretariat, participated as a panelist in the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) and UNDP Seoul Policy Centre (USPC) joint webinar on “Regional, Sub-regional and Interregional Organizations in the Global South as Actors in Responding to COVID-19”, held on 15th July 2020.

The webinar was held with a view to encourage global and regional exchange of experiences to help increase understanding of the challenges and solutions, improve the effectiveness of cross-disciplinary responses, and leverage cooperation amongst countries, including through South-South and triangular cooperation.

Other panelists in the event included: Mr. Fadi Abdullah Farasin, Assistant Director General, Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC), Turkey; Mr. Habib Ur Rehman Mayar, Deputy General Secretary, g7+ Secretariat and Executive Director of g7+ Foundation, USA; Ms. Sara Hamouda, SDGs and Agenda 2063 Expert, African Peer Review Mechanism, African Union; and Prof. Santiago Fiorio Vaesken, Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Officer from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay.

In her talk, Dr. Fareed gave an overview of COMSATS’ international programmes, and activities in the Southern region while also highlighting the major breakthroughs in R&D made by COMSATS’ Network during the past few months in its fight against the corona pandemic.

She highlighted COMSATS’ response to COVID-19 which is primarily centered upon enhancing collaborations among scientific communities within COMSATS Member States to promote sharing of experiences and good practices for joint action towards the global pandemic. Dr. Fareed stated that during the pandemic, COMSATS has continued its capacity building activities and noted recent webinars and trainings organized in the areas of telehealth, food security, climate change and sustainable development, and youth’s role in COVID-19 response.

She also mentioned COMSATS’ undertakings in the field of telemedicine, including extension of support to its partners in the South and Network members for institution of telemedicine setup, and capacity building of telehealth professionals. Besides, it was also informed that COMSATS is collaborating with the Government of Pakistan for conceiving possible digital health solutions for the country as well as is providing patronage to Yaran-e-Watan initiative for linking Pakistani health diaspora across the globe with healthcare organizations within Pakistan.