International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh

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International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh
AbbreviationICDDR,B
Formation1960;63 years ago (1960)
PurposeDiarrhoeal disease research
Headquarters68, Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Sarani, Mohakhali, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Coordinates 23°46′35.04″N90°23′59.27″E / 23.7764000°N 90.3997972°E / 23.7764000; 90.3997972
Executive Director
 Tahmeed Ahmed
Notable researchers
 Dilip Mahalanabis
Colin Munro MacLeod
Richard A. Cash
David R. Nalin
Firdausi Qadri
Website www.icddrb.org
Formerly called
SEATO Cholera Research Laboratory
President Zia inaugurates ICDDR,B ICDDRB inaguration.png
President Zia inaugurates ICDDR,B

ICDDR,B (formerly known as the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh) is an international health research organisation located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. [1] Dedicated to saving lives through research and treatment, ICDDR,B addresses some of the most critical health concerns facing the world today, ranging from improving neonatal survival to HIV/AIDS. [2] In collaboration with academic and research institutions over the world, ICDDR,B conducts research, training and extension activities, as well as programme-based activities, to develop and share knowledge for global lifesaving solutions.

Contents

ICDDR,B is one of the leading research institutes of the Global South, releasing, according to the Thomson Reuters Web of Science, 18 percent of the Bangladesh's publications. [3]

ICDDR,B has a mix of national and international staff, including public health scientists, laboratory scientists, clinicians, nutritionists, epidemiologists, demographers, social and behavioural scientists, IT professionals, and experts in emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, and vaccine sciences.

ICDDR,B is supported by about 55 donor countries and organisations, including Sweden (SIDA), Canada, UK, Bangladesh, USA, UN specialised agencies, foundations, universities, research institutes and private sector organisations and companies that share the centre's concern for the health problems of developing countries and who value its proven experience in helping solve those problems. [4] The centre is governed by a distinguished multinational Board of Trustees comprising 17 members from all over the world.

History

ICDDR,B has its roots in the SEATO Cholera Research Laboratory formed in 1960. When Bangladesh became independent in 1971, activities were scaled down due to a scarcity of funds. Subsequently, a bilateral agreement was signed by Bangladesh and USAID for direct fund flow to the organisation. Until 1978, there were number research accomplishments such as ORS, Patho-Physiology of shigellosis, Rotavirus, uplifting family planning program etc. In 1978 proposal by an international group of scientists was put forward to elevate the organisation to an international research centre. The organisation was established in its current form via an ordinance promulgated by President Ziaur Rahman and then that was ratified in parliament in 1979. The centre has, among its other accomplishments, played a major role in the discovery and implementation of oral rehydration therapy for the treatment of diarrhoea and cholera. [5] Oral rehydration therapy is thought to have saved over 50 million people worldwide. [6]

Since 1978, the centre has trained more than 27,000 health professionals from over 78 countries. Courses provide practical training in hospital management of diarrhoeal diseases, epidemiology, biostatistics, family planning, demographic surveillance, and child survival strategies. As child deaths from disease have been reduced, deaths from injuries, such as drowning, have become a proportionately greater threat to child survival. [7]

Awards and recognition

In 2017, ICDDR,B won the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize with $2 million in prize money in recognition [8] of the institute's innovative approach to solving global health issues impacting the world's most impoverished communities. In 2016, former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted [9] that ICDDR,B's innovations are directly contributing to sustainable development, helping reduce infant, child and maternal mortality significantly in Bangladesh and beyond.

In 2001, ICDDR,B received the first Gates Award for Global Health from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2002 the first Pollin Prize for Pediatric Research was awarded to Drs. Norbert Hirschhorn, Nathaniel Pierce, Dilip Mahalanabis and David Nalin for their contributions to the development and implementation of oral rehydration therapy. The work of Drs. Hirschhorn and Nalin was done at the Cholera Research Laboratory beginning in 1967. Dr. Dilip Mahalanabis made his major contribution to oral rehydration therapy in 1971 while working in Calcutta and served as Director of Clinical Research at ICDDR,B in the 1990s. In 2006, the Prince Mahidol Award for public health was given jointly to Drs. Mahalanabis, Richard A. Cash, David Nalin, and Stanley Schultz for their work on oral rehydration therapy. In 2007, ICDDR,B received the Leadership Award from the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics.

It won the $2 million 2017 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. [10]

Entrance to the ICDDR,B head office, in Mohakhali, Dhaka. International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research Head Office Entrance, Bangladesh.JPG
Entrance to the ICDDR,B head office, in Mohakhali, Dhaka.

Timeline of Innovations and achievements

1960: Cholera Research Laboratory begins.

1963: Population surveillance – the world's longest running field site starts in Matlab Bazaar. [11]

1966: Cholera fatality reduced to less than 1%.

1967: Work leading to the development of oral rehydration therapy begins.

1969: Relationship between breastfeeding and menstruation resumption is demonstrated.

1974: Tetanus toxoid vaccine recommended for pregnant women, reducing neonatal mortality by 30%.

1978: Rotavirus identified as the most common cause of diarrhoea in infants in Bangladesh, and as highest priority for new vaccines.

1982: Rice-based ORS shown to be fully effective alternative to glucose-based ORS and preferred for routine use at ICDDR,B.

1982: Matlab Maternal Child Health and Family Planning project shares its success in lowering national fertility rates with the Government of Bangladesh.

1983: Epidemic Control and Preparedness Programme begins.

1984: Full Expanded Programme on Immunization data is validated (and begins). Benefit of measles vaccine demonstrated, leading to inclusion in EPI.

1985: Cholera vaccine trial launched.

1988: Treatment of, and research into, acute respiratory infections/pneumonia begins.

1989: Matlab record keeping system, specially adapted for Government use, extended to the national family planning programme.

1993: New Vibrio cholerae 0139 (Bengal strain) identified and characterised by ICDDR,B.

1994: ICDDR,B epidemic response team goes to Goma, Zaire to assist cholera-stricken Rwandan refugees and helps reduce case fatality rate from as high as 49% to less than 1%.

1995: Maternal immunisation with pneumococcal vaccine shown likely to protect infants up to 22 weeks.

1998: HIV sero-surveillance begins in Bangladesh on behalf of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Bangladesh.

1999: Protocolized Management of Severely Malnourished Children decreases case fatality from 20% to less than 5%. Published in Lancet.

2000: ICDDR,B assists Government of Bangladesh with control of major dengue epidemic in Dhaka.

2000: International, peer-reviewed and indexed ICDDR,B journal is renamed Journal of Health, Population, and Nutrition.

2001: Studies on violence against women in Bangladesh are initiated.

2001: ICDDR,B opens the first tuberculosis laboratory in Bangladesh.

2001: Oral cholera vaccine, tested at ICDDR,B, is approved for use by WHO.

2001: Studies on the effects of arsenic on health begin.

2002: ICDDR,B studies establish that zinc treatment of diarrhoea reduces under-5 mortality by 50%.

2002: First HIV voluntary counselling and testing unit in Bangladesh opens at ICDDR,B.

2003: New research programmes on HIV/AIDS and Poverty & Health.

2004: Studies on preventing high levels of childhood drowning begin.

2005: ICDDR,B team assists in post-tsunami health needs assessment in Sri Lanka.

2006: Dispersible zinc tablets launched through unique public-private partnership in national scale-up to treat diarrhoea in children under five years.

2006: Studies on abortion and menstrual regulation initiated.

2007: Oral cholera vaccine Dukoral, tested at Matlab in 1985, launched in Bangladesh.

2008: Introduce SHEBA (an integrated Hospital Management System) and start the journey as a paperless hospital

2009: ICDDR,B opens a ward for ARI (Swine Flu) patients.

2010: ICDDR,B celebrates 50 years of operations. Sends teams to combat deadly cholera outbreaks in Pakistan and Haiti. Research team discovers and characterise the "TLC phage" which changes the chromosomal sequence of the cholera bacterium, enabling incoming toxigenic CTX phage genome to be incorporated and transforming a harmless strain of V. cholerae to a dangerous killer. Issued its first patent from the Director of United States Patent and Trademark Office (United States Patent US7638271) for inventing a new diagnostic method for tuberculosis, called Antibodies from lymphocyte secretions or ALS.

2011: "Continuum of Care" (a concept [12] involving a system that guides and tracks patients over time through a comprehensive array of health services) approach achieves 36% drop in perinatalmortality.

2014: Oral cholera vaccine in Bangladesh was found [13] to have significant impact on cholera incidence when delivered through Bangladesh's existing immunisation infrastructure.

2015: ICDDR,B published a three-year strategic plan [14] 2015–2018, aiming to achieve broader objectives by developing a greater international focus, promoting the growth of South-South collaborations and increasing engagement with the private sector.

2016: Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon acknowledged [9] that ICDDR,B interventions are directly contributing to sustainable development, which helped to significantly reduce infant, child and maternal mortality in Bangladesh and beyond.

2017: ICDDR,B wins the 2017 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize [15] for its commitment to solving key public health problems facing the world's most vulnerable through innovative scientific research since 1960.

Facilities

icddr,b's headquarters in the Dhaka is located at Mohakhali with modern laboratories and hospital, and training centers. Dhaka Hospital was established by icddr,b in 1962 primarily for diarrhoeal disease. It has since grown into a nationally important centre treating more than 140,000 patients a year. Dhaka Hospital provides an infrastructure for a wide range of clinical research projects. It has pioneered numerous innovations, including a paperless patient record system, which has also been adopted at Matlab Hospital. The 120-bed icddr,b-run Matlab Hospital is located within the Health and Demographic Surveillance Site at Matlab, about 50 km south of Dhaka. It provides free clinical care for diarrhoeal disease, maternal and child health care services, treating more than 30,000 people a year. It played a key role in community trials of oral rehydration solution (ORS) and early cholera vaccine studies. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cholera</span> Bacterial infection of the small intestine

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and muscle cramps may also occur. Diarrhea can be so severe that it leads within hours to severe dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. This may result in sunken eyes, cold skin, decreased skin elasticity, and wrinkling of the hands and feet. Dehydration can cause the skin to turn bluish. Symptoms start two hours to five days after exposure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diarrhea</span> Loose or liquid bowel movements

Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea or diarrhœa, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin with loss of the normal stretchiness of the skin and irritable behaviour. This can progress to decreased urination, loss of skin color, a fast heart rate, and a decrease in responsiveness as it becomes more severe. Loose but non-watery stools in babies who are exclusively breastfed, however, are normal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gastroenteritis</span> Inflammation of the stomach and small intestine

Gastroenteritis, also known as infectious diarrhea or simply as gastro, is an inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract including the stomach and intestine. Symptoms may include diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Fever, lack of energy, and dehydration may also occur. This typically lasts less than two weeks. Although it is not related to influenza, in the U.S. it is sometimes called the "stomach flu".

Gopinath Balakrish Nair is an Indian microbiologist known for his work on cholera. At present, he is the Ag. Regional Adviser, Research Policy and Cooperation Unit, Department of Communicable Diseases, World Health Organization. Before joining WHO, he was the executive director of Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad, NCR, India. Before joining THSTI, he was working in NICED as the director. He has also served as the director of Laboratory Sciences Division at the International Center for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research,, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oral rehydration therapy</span> Type of fluid replacement used to prevent and treat dehydration

Oral rehydration therapy (ORT) is a type of fluid replacement used to prevent and treat dehydration, especially due to diarrhea. It involves drinking water with modest amounts of sugar and salts, specifically sodium and potassium. Oral rehydration therapy can also be given by a nasogastric tube. Therapy should routinely include the use of zinc supplements. Use of oral rehydration therapy has been estimated to decrease the risk of death from diarrhea by up to 93%.

Dilip Mahalanabis was an Indian paediatrician known for pioneering the use of oral rehydration therapy to treat diarrhoeal diseases. Mahalanabis had begun researching oral rehydration therapy in 1966 as a research investigator for the Johns Hopkins University International Center for Medical Research and Training in Calcutta, India. During the Bangladeshi war for independence, he led the effort by the Johns Hopkins Center that demonstrated the dramatic life-saving effectiveness of oral rehydration therapy when cholera broke out in 1971 among refugees from East Bengal who had sought asylum in West Bengal. The simple, inexpensive Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) gained acceptance, and was later hailed as one of the most important medical advances of the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seventh cholera pandemic</span> Seventh major cholera pandemic

The seventh cholera pandemic is the seventh major outbreak of cholera and occurred principally from the years 1961 to 1975, but the strain involved persists to the present. WHO and some other authorities believe this should be considered as an ongoing pandemic. As stated in its cholera factsheet dated 30 March 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) continues to define this outbreak as a current pandemic, and with cholera having become endemic in many countries. In 2017, WHO announced a global strategy aiming to end this pandemic by 2030.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sambhu Nath De</span>

Sambhunath De ; was an Indian medical scientist and researcher, who discovered the cholera toxin, the animal model of cholera, and successfully demonstrated the method of transmission of cholera pathogen Vibrio cholerae.

The Pollin Prize for Pediatric Research was an annual award given to physicians who contributed important advances to the field of pediatrics, and was the only existing international pediatric award. The prize was created in 2002 by Irene and Abe Pollin, and funded by the Linda and Kenneth Pollin Foundation. It was administered by the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and as of 2003, Dr. Rudolph Leibel was chairman of the selection panel.

David R. Nalin is an American physiologist, and Pollin Prize for Pediatric Research and Prince Mahidol Award, a.k.a. Mahidol Medal winner. Nalin had the key insight that oral rehydration therapy (ORT) would work if the volume of solution patients drank matched the volume of their fluid losses, and that this would drastically reduce or completely replace the only current treatment for cholera, intravenous therapy. Nalin led the trials that first demonstrated ORT works, both in cholera patients, and more significantly, also in other dehydrating diarrhea illnesses. Nalin's discoveries have been estimated to have saved over 50 million lives worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard A. Cash</span>

Richard Alan Cash, M.D., M.P.H. is an American global health researcher, public health physician, and internist. He is a Senior Lecturer in International Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shah M. Faruque</span>

Shah Mohammad Faruque is a professor in the School of Environment and Life Sciences at Independent University Bangladesh (IUB). He is widely recognized for his research in Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium which causes the epidemic diarrhoeal disease Cholera. Among other positions, previously he was a professor at BRAC University; director of the Genomics Centre at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), and formerly director of the Centre for Food and Water Borne Diseases in ICDDR,B. His areas of research interest include microbial genomics, bacteriophages, environmental microbiology, ecology, and evolution of bacterial pathogens, particularly those associated with waterborne and foodborne diseases. Faruque is primarily known for his work in genomics, epidemiology and ecology of the cholera pathogen, and its bacteriophages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social Marketing Company</span>

Social Marketing Company is a Bangladeshi non-profit organisation which offers education and products for family planning, maternal and child health, and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and AIDS. It is the largest social marketing company in Bangladesh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Management of dehydration</span>

The management of dehydration typically involves the use of oral rehydration solution (ORS). Standard home solutions such as salted rice water, salted yogurt drinks, vegetable and chicken soups with salt can be given. Home solutions such as water in which cereal has been cooked, unsalted soup, green coconut water, weak tea (unsweetened), and unsweetened fresh fruit juices can have from half a teaspoon to full teaspoon of salt added per liter. Clean plain water can also be one of several fluids given. There are commercial solutions such as Pedialyte, and relief agencies such as UNICEF widely distribute packets of salts and sugar. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes a homemade ORS with one liter water with one teaspoon salt and six teaspoons sugar added. The WHO; however, does not generally recommend homemade solutions as how to make them is easily forgotten. Rehydration Project recommends adding the same amount of sugar but only one-half a teaspoon of salt, stating that this more dilute approach is less risky with very little loss of effectiveness. Both agree that drinks with too much sugar or salt can make dehydration worse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norbert Hirschhorn</span>

Norbert Hirschhorn is an Austrian-born American public health physician. He was one of the inventors and developers of the life-saving method called oral rehydration therapy for adults and children suffering fluid loss from cholera and other infectious diarrheal illnesses. It is estimated that his work has saved around 50 million people suffering from dehydration.

Firdausi Qadri is a Bangladeshi scientist with specialization in immunology and infectious disease research. She has worked over 25 years on the development of vaccines for cholera and has expertise on other infectious disease like ETEC, Typhoid, Helicobacter pylori, rotavirus, etc. Currently, she is working as a director for Centre for Vaccine Sciences of International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease and Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B). She also serves as chairperson of the Institute for developing Science and Health initiatives. Her scientific achievements lie in enteric infections and vaccines including Vibrio cholerae and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli—major causes of severe diarrhea. She has also focused on studying the immune response in Helicobacter pylori infected people in Bangladesh and the responses in patients with typhoid fever as well as vaccinees. The Government of Bangladesh awarded her the Independence Award in 2023.

Matlab was an upazila of the Chandpur District of the Chittagong Division, Bangladesh. In 2000, the administrative area was subdivided into Matlab Dakshin Upazila and Matlab Uttar Upazila.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samir Kumar Saha</span> Bangladeshi Scientist

Samir Kumar Saha is an eminent Bangladeshi microbiologist and public health expert. He is the professor, senior consultant and head of the department of Diagnostic Division of Microbiology at the Dhaka Shishu Hospital for children and also the executive director of The Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF) at the Bangladesh Institute of Child Health.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger I. Glass</span> American physician-scientist

Roger I. Glass is an American physician-scientist who serves as the Director of the John E. Fogarty International Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Mosley (epidemiologist)</span> Epidemiologist and international public health professional

Wiley Henry Mosley is an epidemiologist and international public health professional. He is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

References

  1. ↑ Zia Uddin Ahmed (2012). "icddr,b". In Sirajul Islam and Ahmed A. Jamal (ed.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  2. ↑ "Details of Independence Awardee". Cabinet Division – Bangladesh (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 2 October 2011.
  3. ↑ Dilruba Mahbuba and Ronald Rousseau, Scientific research in Bangladesh and a comparison with India and Pakistan, Fourth International Conference on Webometrics, Informetrics and Scientometrics & Ninth COLLNET Meeting (2008)
  4. ↑ "Children's Health Foundation – Unusual rise in patient numbers at icddr,b's Dhaka Hospital". Archived from the original on 22 August 2009. Retrieved 17 July 2009.
  5. ↑ UNICEF. "ORS: The medical advance of the century". Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
  6. ↑ Ginzberg, Lin Lin (3 August 2014). "The man who helped save 50 million lives". BBC News. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  7. ↑ "Drowning kills more children aged 1 to 4 than any disease". icddr,b.
  8. ↑ Center, Foundation. "2017 Hilton Humanitarian Prize Awarded to icddr,b". Philanthropy News Digest (PND). Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  9. 1 2 "Ban Ki-moon hails icddr,b". The Daily Star. 27 September 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  10. ↑ "$2 Million Hilton Prize To Be Awarded To Bangladesh Health Research Group" (PDF). The Beverly Hills Courier. 25 August 2017. p. 2. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  11. ↑ "Professor receives grant to study effects of good health in Bangladesh" . Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  12. ↑ "Definition: Continuum of Care". HIMSS. 14 May 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  13. ↑ Qadri, Firdausi; Ali, Mohammad; Chowdhury, Fahima; Khan, Ashraful Islam; Saha, Amit; Khan, Iqbal Ansary; Begum, Yasmin A.; Bhuiyan, Taufiqur R.; Chowdhury, Mohiul Islam; Uddin, Md Jasim; Khan, Jahangir A M.; Chowdhury, Atique Iqbal; Rahman, Anisur; Siddique, Shah Alam; Asaduzzaman, Muhammad; Akter, Afroza; Khan, Arifuzzaman; Ae You, Young; Siddik, Ashraf Uddin; Saha, Nirod Chandra; Kabir, Alamgir; Riaz, Baizid Khoorshid; Biswas, Shwapon Kumar; Begum, Farzana; Unicomb, Leanne; Luby, Stephen P.; Cravioto, Alejandro; Clemens, John D. (3 October 2015). "Feasibility and effectiveness of oral cholera vaccine in an urban endemic setting in Bangladesh: a cluster randomised open-label trial". The Lancet. 386 (10001): 1362–1371. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)61140-0 . ISSN   0140-6736. PMID   26164097.
  14. ↑ "icddr,b - Downloads". www.icddrb.org. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  15. ↑ "icddr,b · Hilton Humanitarian Prize". Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  16. ↑ "icddr,b - Clinical facilities". www.icddrb.org. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
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