 Good morning. I'm Diana, and I'm the social media manager at IEA. Our scientific forum is about to come to an end. This year, the forum was all about the importance of nuclear science in preparing for and containing future pandemics. If you want to watch the last session live, check the link in the comments. Even though the forum ends today, the conversation must continue. I'm very pleased to introduce you to our next guest, Dr. Samantha Lecholo. Dr. Samantha is a veterinarian and head of virology section at the Botswana National Veterinary Laboratory. Dr. Samantha, thank you so much for joining us today. It's a pleasure to have you here. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I really appreciate it, and I'm really going to enjoy this conversation with you. Can you please tell us a little bit about yourself and how you end up working in this area? When I was a little girl, when I was around five years, I had a very keen interest in animals. I loved animals, and I also cared about people and their health. So I couldn't decide between becoming a pediatrician and a veterinarian. So I had to battle with that until my first year in university when I was doing my Bachelor of Science and, lo and behold, veterinary medicine won. And having done Vet Med when I came back to Botswana, because I started in Australia, I was placed with the Ministry of Agriculture at Botswana National Vet Lab, initially with bacteriology, then with food safety, then finally in virology, where it's been my home for the past 12 to 13 years. So that enabled me to deal with zoonosis and other animal diseases which are viral and of economic importance. So that was very good for me because I was able to fulfill my passion for animals and human health. So that was very good. I work mainly with diseases like rabies and avian influenza. And recently we've had an avian influenza outbreak and I'm trying to engage with the human health side so that we can collaborate and see how we can survey both on the human side and on the animal side. So that's very interesting and very exciting. So that's how I ended up working in virology. Very interesting. And how has the IEA been assisting the Botswana National Laboratory where you work and the Botswana, the country itself, how the IEA assists? Support. Okay, so with the Botswana National Vet Lab, initially we were a very small lab before we had support from the IEA and a lot of the testing that we did including for zoonosis, we had to ship samples outside. So that meant that there was a very big impact on the time which we can know what's going on and respond to it. So with that assistance that we got into introducing nuclear and nuclear-based technology or tests that are based on those, we managed to be able to test in-country and respond very quickly for many disease outbreaks, especially those which are viral like FMD and like rabies and like even influenza, which is the latest. So that's how we have been able to improve. Also, we have managed to become the one of four IEA ref labs for the CBPP and we have become the second service lab for even influenza in the Satic region and we are well on our way to become a center of excellence in the Africa region. So also we host a lot of IEA fellows and scientists from Africa and abroad and we've had two scientific meetings and trainings held at the Botswana National Vet Lab through your assistance as the IEA. Thank you so much. And how do you think we can prevent or control future outbreaks of zoonotic disease? What can we, like me, our colleagues, our family neighbors, what can we... Thank you so much for that question. I was going to say the Zodiac project came exactly smack bang on time because after the COVID-19 outbreak our question is what next, what are we going to do? So with it, there are so many opportunities that it presents. For example, with our country we are trying to stop working in silos and start using the One Health approach. Now with the Zodiac project they are giving us an opportunity to do our surveillance simultaneously, parallel but integrated, as well as the reporting. So that's a very good opportunity for us as the Minister of Health and to be able to address zoonoses simultaneously. So that's one. Then the second one, there will be an opportunity to introduce nuclear and nuclear technology-based techniques which are able to detect novel diseases including viruses and this at a global stage. So that will enable us as a whole globe to address zoonoses wherever they arise as and when they do arise. Then the third thing was that we'd be able to intensify our animal surveillance so that we can detect early diseases while they're in the animal population so that we can prevent them crossing over to the human population. Then the other one was with that integration between the health and the veterinary there's also the education of the public and the improvement of the abilities and the capabilities of the diagnostic labs across the globe. So I figured that's how we can address the future and current zoonoses and with that the IAEA helped us a lot in what they've done for us for the COVID testing especially with the BSL2 and BSL3 cabinet. We were not able to handle diseases like even influenza before as in the live virus in our lab but with the assistance of the IAEA and the BSL2 and BSL3 cabinet we will be able to handle such diseases and any other that may come up in the future. Thank you. That's very impressive. Thank you Dr. Samantha. It's been a pleasure to have you here for this short but very insightful conversation. Thank you so much. I hope you enjoy the rest of the scientific forum. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks. So as I said, our scientific forum on preparing for zoonotic outbreaks and the role of nuclear science is coming to an end today. We had with us experts from around the world discussing the role of nuclear science in strengthening the capabilities of countries to rapidly detect and timely respond to emerging outbreaks of zoonotic disease. If you are interested, recordings of the sessions are available in our website. Keep following the discussions on social media by using hashtag Atoms4Ealth and get involved in the conversation. The scientific forum comes back next year. Until then, stay safe and healthy. Bye and thanks for tuning in. Thank you so much. Thank you. And thank you for having me. You're welcome. Thank you.