ICDDR,B (formerly known as the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh) is an international health research organisation located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. 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. 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.
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.
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. 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. Oral rehydration therapy is thought to have saved over 50 million people worldwide.
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.
Awards and recognition
In 2017, ICDDR,B won the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize with $2 million in prize money in recognition 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 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.
Timeline of Innovations and achievements
1960: Cholera Research Laboratory begins.