Mangaluru: Antimicrobial resistance, tuberculosis diagnosis, vaccine development, climate-linked diseases and pandemic preparedness were discussed at the second Nature Conference in India, which concluded at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) on Friday.
Keynote speakers including Lauren Gardner of Johns Hopkins University discussed the role of data in public health decision making after Covid-19, McGill University’s Madhukar Pai examined ways to transform tuberculosis diagnosis, and Shabir A Madhi of the University of Witwatersrand spoke about preventing vaccine-preventable respiratory infections among children. Held from Wednesday to Friday, the three-day conference, titled ‘Meeting the challenge of infectious diseases in a changing world,’ organised by Nature Medicine, Nature Microbiology, Nature Health, Nature Communications and MAHE, brought together researchers and public health experts from India and abroad. The sessions focused on disease surveillance and forecasting, antimicrobial resistance, diagnostics, prevention, vaccines, climate change and pandemic preparedness, with emphasis on issues relevant to India’s health system. Marion Koopmans of Erasmus University Rotterdam discussed outbreak risk prediction as a key component of pandemic preparedness. Other sessions covered the development of new treatments for drug-resistant infections, including Klebsiella pneumoniae, and new tuberculosis regimens. During the conference researchers also examined how climate change is altering vector-borne disease risks and contributing to childhood malnutrition and antimicrobial resistance. Research presentations and poster sessions enabled early career and established researchers to share their work and build collaborations across disciplines.