The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (ICDDR) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, has been founded in 1960, originally as Cholera Research Laboratory, and is known since 1978 under the name of ICDDR,B. Today, it has a tagline describing its main activities as ''Knowledge for Global Lifesaving Solutions'. Originally, the research was fully addressed towards tackling diarrhoeal diseases, while today the Centre is the most important regional research institute in the field of management of diarrhea, pneumonia, malnutrition, micronutrients, child health, reproductive health and health service delivery. The focus of research has thus been enlarged. The centre continues to contribute to the knowledge base for policy makers.
The ICDDR,B has the merit of having developed in the eighties the Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) for the treatment of diarrhoea, hailed as one of the most outstanding medical discoveries of the last century, responsible for saving the lives of 40 million children with diarrhoea during the last two decades. Chronic diarrhea is the daily killer of 5,000 young children in the developing world and the cause of one-third of child deaths in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, the market for ORS is now over 200 million sachets annually and literally every family knows about ORS and most use it with severe diarrhea. Today's research on diarrhea is focusing on the demonstration of life saving benefits of the micronutrient zinc.
The ICDDR,B has fully aligned its strategy 2010 with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Known for its achievements in the field of applied research, the Centre's findings are disseminated internationally and nationally through scientific publications, presentations to meetings and through its many networks. Among those, ICDDR,B is closely partnering with UN Agencies, such as UNICEF and WHO. The ICDDR,B further forms a strategic partnership with the Government of Bangladesh to contribute to improving the overall health system.
Switzerland's partnership with the ICDDR,B has started as a scientific collaboration, and since 1980 Switzerland became one of ICDDR,B's regular financial contributors. Switzerland's contribution is a core contribution ('unrestricted institutional support'), supporting the Centre's basic operations, including ongoing high priority research. Beyond that, and in the sense of knowledge exchange, a strategic partnership between the 'Universitätsspital Basel' and the ICDDR,B has been built up, partly co-financed by a backstopping contribution of SDC.
SDC's contribution for this phase (01.07.07 – 30.04.10) will be CHF 3’125’000.-, contributing to the overall running costs of 10 to 12 Mio USD per year (covered by unrestricted and project-wise contributions). The other major donors for unrestricted funds are CIDA (Canada), the Netherlands, DFID (UK), SIDA (Sweden), all contributing with ≥USD 1 Mio to the core costs.
