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OUTREACH PROGRAM OF GUJARAT SCIENCE CITY

Students were amazed to see the wonderrs of the SKy oBservation inside the inflatable planetorium . Lots of students were linned up to crawl downinside the planetorium.

Environment Awareness Fair at Indroda Nature Park, Gandhinagar during 19 - 20th February 2005

The Gujarat Science City participated in a two-days Environment Awareness Camp held at Indroda Nature Park, Gandhinagar during 19-20 February 2005. GEER Foundation organized the district level camp in collaboration with Water and Sanitation Management Organization (WASMO), Gandhinagar. The activities included exhibition by eco-clubs members and the other organizations and institutions, who are working for the cause of environment education and conservation.

The camp aimed at creating environmental awareness through students by setting up eco-clubs in schools. It was a part of its main programme for the National Green crops (NGC) programme, being sponsored by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF), Govt of India. In Gujarat, GEER Foundation is working as the nodal agency and is now coordinating 3750 eco-clubs in the state with an around 150 eco-clubs in each of the 25 districts of the State.

The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Shri M. L. Sharma inaugurated the camp on 19th February 2005. In his inaugural address, Shri Sharma highlighted the importance of environment awareness programme and asked for the student's role in spreading the awareness about environment education and its protection.

Earlier, Shri C. N. Pandey, Director, GEER Foundation welcomed the participants, dignitaries and the participating organizations. He informed that the foundation is conducting several nature camps in and around Indroda Nature Park and providing an ideal platform for nature education components.

The Gujarat Science City opened its stall by displaying all its programmes and activities on environment and nature education as well as training on bioresources and biodiversity. Shri S. D. Vora, Executive Director, Gujarat Science City visited the camp both the days and supervised the activities. He also interacted with the senior officers of the Department of Forests, Govt of Gujarat and enlightened about various innovative nature education programmes of the Science City.

Among the other organizations, the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), WASMO, Gandhinagar, Department of Forests, Govt of Gujarat, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Department of Post are also participated in this two day camp and setup their informative stalls.

Many interested school level eco-club members, forest officers and conservators and the local teachers visited Science City stall and shown their interest and desires for the activities on science city as well as nature camps. Several films on nature education and interactive activities were shown to the visitors on LCD screen. Dr. Narottam Sahoo along with the Technician Shri Dharmenda Mauria and student volunteers, Ms. Tarika Patel, Shri Hemant Soni coordinated the activities of the camp.

The Science City also put up the inflatable planetarium and arranged shows the students and the general visitors of the camps on sky observation. Shri Pradip Mavadhiya and Devarsh Patel Conducted the planetarium shows.

Both the days there were lots of student activities like poster painting, essay writing and skit presentations. The valedictory function was organized on 20th February evening. Shri Arjun Singh, IAS, Secretary, Department of Forests, Govt of Gujarat addressed the participants as Chief Guest and had a high regard for their concerns and activities on environment awareness. He distributed prizes and certificates to the meritorious students. During the function, the Gujarat Science City was awarded a memento as a token of appreciation on its programmes and activities.

It was a good experience by participating and interacting with the students and the resource persons working on eco-club projects. It also helped us to identify the active eco-clubs and their coordinators for further training activity at science city during the year 2005-2006.


Bhoomi Pujan on 11-Feb-05

Humble beginning: Bhoomi Pujan of Road, Parking and Utility construction work in Science City on 11.02.2005 in the hand of Shri Vagmin Buch, Additional Secretary, Department of Science & Technology, Govt of Gujarat in presence of Shri S. D. Vora, Executive Director, Gujarat Science City.
 
 
Life and Health
 
Low Cost Cholera Vaccine

rials of a cholera vaccine manufactured in Vietnam at a cost of about only 20 US cents a dose have produced encouraging results, especially for children, an international team of researchers reports in the World Health Organisation's latest issue of The Bulletin. A team headed by Professor Dang Duc Trach at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Hanoi concluded that the vaccine was "safe and immunogenic" and "could elicit robust immune responses".

The vaccine was found to elicit high levels of immunity in children, for whom the risk of endemic cholera is highest, as well as in adults. These responses were comparable to those elicited by a Swedish-made vaccine that has already been licensed for use in several European countries.

Work began in Vietnam during the mid-1980s on the production of an oral cholera whole-cell vaccine that could be used in the country's public health programmes. The vaccine was later modified so that it could also counter a new form of epidemic cholera that emerged in the 1990s.

The two trials in The Bulletin were carried out in Hanoi and involved about 144 adults aged between 17 and 25 years, and about 103 children aged 1-12 years. The trials were conducted by scientists from Vietnam, Sweden, the USA, the Republic of Korea, the International Vaccine Institute in South Korea and the World Health Organisation in Switzerland.

All the participants were given two doses of either the local produced vaccine, its Swedish counterpart, or a placebo, with the doses separated by an interval of two weeks. The trial in children began only after the trial in adults showed no important side effects.

In both studies, the participants were observed for 30 minutes after each dose and were visited daily for three consecutive days to ascertain symptoms. Interviews were also conducted two weeks after each dose in order to obtain information about any intervening illnesses requiring medical care. Blood samples were taken for laboratory analysis.

The researchers found that the Vietnamese vaccine was associated with no side effects and caused a better immune response in children than in adults, for reasons that were not clear. "The safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine, especially its ability to elicit robust responses, are encouraging, particularly because of its low cost of production ($0.20 per dose) in Vietnam," the scientists say in the journal. They add that further studies are needed in order to evaluate the clinical protection it conferred.
 
 

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