Firdausi Qadri: putting Bangladeshi science on the map

Abstract

Firdausi Qadri, infectious disease specialist and Senior Scientist at icddr,b, found time on a hectic day to speak with me. She was taking a lunch break on day 5 of Bangladesh's 7-day vaccination blitz in July, 2022, during which more than 2·4 million people were immunised with oral cholera vaccine (OCV). A vaccination roll-out of this speed and scale is not unusual for Bangladesh. But this year's campaign is different because “it is aimed at breaking the cycle of infection in the country's worst cholera outbreak in 60 years”, says Qadri.