UK minister lauds her country’s partnership with icddr,b

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DHAKA, Feb 20, 2019 (BSS) – Secretary of State for International Development and Minister for Women and Equalities of the United Kingdom Penny Mordaunt, MP on Tuesday appreciated her country’s decades long partnership with icddr,b in saving lives.

She visited the institute accompanied by a high-level delegation including the British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Alison Blake, Head of Department for International Development (DFID) Bangladesh Jim McAlpine among others, said a press release here today.

The delegation also toured icddr,b’s Dhaka Hospital at Mohakhali, covering the intensive care unit and laboratories, short-stay ward, breast feeding counselling room, immunisation room and nutrition rehabilitation unit, and commended icddr,b’s free-of-charge care to hundreds and thousands of people.

Senior Director, Nutrition and Clinical Services of icddr,b, Dr Tahmeed Ahmed presented an overview of the UK-icddr,b’s endeavours and partnership.

During the visit, lauding icddr,b’s work Mordaunt said, “The partnership between icddr,b and DFID is very special and we are proud to provide UK aid support for research, innovations and capacity building so they can continue saving thousands of lives annually.”

“icddr,b’s expertise is also saving lives in crises around the world and I was really impressed by the staff I met, and new ideas and research I saw during my visit,” she said.

UK aid is one of the core donors to icddr,b and has been supporting icddr,b’s work since 1975. It helped revitalise icddr,b’s research operations which was disrupted by Bangladesh’s liberation war of 1971. It has provided 36 million British pounds in core funding to date. This includes 12 million pounds in current core funding through 2021.