Bangladeshi scientist selected as member of UN Polio research body

The World Health Organization has selected Dr K Zaman, a Bangladeshi scientist, as a member of the United Nations Polio Research Committee (PRC).

Michel Zaffran, director of the PRC, handed over an official letter to the WHO Headquarters in Geneva on February 11 in this regard, reports a handout issued by the icddr,b.

Dr Zaman and his colleagues have been carrying out studies on a range of oral polio vaccines (OPVs) in Bangladesh, the press release said.

Earlier on October 2016, Dr Zaman became a member of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) in the polio immunization working group.

The icddr,b has conducted studies over more than 10 polio vaccines and results of these studies are anticipated to guide the worldwide polio eradication agenda in choosing the optimal vaccination intervention, Zaman said in the handout.

“As two deadly infectious diseases, smallpox and rinderpest, have been eradicated from the face of the earth, why polio should not be the third?” he said.

Established in 2008, the Polio Research Committee (PRC) provides guidance on the overall strategic direction of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s global programme of research.

The PRC is comprised of global experts from a variety of disciplines, including virology, epidemiology, sociology and public health.