Top International Health Research Organization Convenes in NY: Group to Unveil Future Life Saving Technologies for Global Health Goals

News provided by

Sep 24, 2015, 09:10 ET

NEW YORK and DHAKA, Bangladesh, Sept. 24, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- icddr,b a Bangladesh-based public health research organization, will unveil future life saving technologies to leading scientists and donors at a side event during the UN Sustainable Development Summit 2015.

Every year more than 2 million children die from pneumonia . Scientists at icddr,b in Bangladesh have invented a low cost oxygen therapy that could revolutionise the treatment of child pneumonia worldwide.

Dr Sabrina Rasheed, a scientist working on equality and health systems at icddr,b stands behind a breast milk pasteurisation machine, invented by engineers from the University of Toronto, which she is piloting with a cohort of working mothers in a Bangladesh garments factory.

The innovations are low cost, local solutions to some of the world's most intractable health problems – malnutrition, pneumonia, emerging infectious diseases, and maternal mortality - that claim the lives of millions in the developing world. The promising life saving solutions are being researched and tested by icddr,b's scientists based at their main research campus in Dhaka.

A few of the ideas include:

A life saving therapeutic food product made with local ingredients for severely malnourished babies,
A mass immunization drive against cholera that could protect millions with a low cost vaccine;
A low cost oxygen therapy unit for doctors to prevent deaths from pneumonia;
Human milk pasteurization machines at factories that support female garment workers with breastfeeding;
A biodegradable birthing mat for home deliveries that warns of dangerous blood loss.

The panel discussion will include top experts in the field of global public health, including speakers from GlaxoSmithKline Africa, Merck for Mothers, Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies, Grand Challenges Canada, and the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida). Others will include scientists and supporters of innovation from the global South.

The meeting will be an interactive discussion about the key opportunities and challenges facing science and innovation from the global South, and will highlight the role the south plays in science and innovation.

As the framework for the SDGs defines the development agenda for the next 15 years, icddr,b is urging the international development community to engage and recognize the key role of southern-led research and innovations play in accelerating progress towards the world's development goals.

About us:

icddr,b (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh) is an international public health research institution located in Dhaka. Established in 1960, icddr,b has been at the forefront of discovering low cost solutions to key health challenges facing people living in poverty and provides robust evidence of their effectiveness at a large scale. Dedicated to saving lives through research and treatment, icddr,b addresses some of the most critical health concerns facing the world today.

For more information, please visit:

http://www.icddrb.org/unga

For more information, please contact:

Penelope Mawson
+44(0)7940-705097
[email protected]

Martijn Pakker
+1(313) 437-0165
[email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150924/270354
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150924/270353

SOURCE icddr,b