International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh

The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) is an international health research organisation. It is located in Dhaka, Bangladesh and was established in 1978. The Centre is credited with discovering oral rehydration therapy for the treatment of diarrhoea and cholera. Oral rehydration therapy is thought to have saved over 40 million people and still saving millions of people from diarrhoea.

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 throughout 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 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, vaccine sciences. The Centre has a cross-cultural environment with 95% local Bangladeshi staff including researchers, medical officers, administrators, and health workers, and 5% international staff primarily from academic and research institutions engaged in global health research.

Since 1978, the Centre has shared its knowledge with the world, training more than 20,000 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.

ICDDR,B’s activities are supported by about 55 donor countries and organizations, including the Government of Bangladesh, UN specialized agencies, foundations, universities, research institutes and private sector organizations 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.

In May 2001, ICDDR,B received the first Gates Award for Global Health. The director of ICDDR,B during the time of the discovery of oral rehydration therapy, Dr Dilip Mahalanabis, received the Pollin Prize for 2002 and Mahidol Award for 2005.