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Living her dream

With UN, Dr Qadri aims to press for LDC cause through science

Porimol Palma
Millions of people in Bangladesh and other least developed countries (LDCs) suffer from hunger and scant healthcare and education facilities.
A key reason behind this, as the United Nations identifies, is the LDCs' lack of ability in moving beyond outdated technologies that affect the production processes and outputs either in agriculture, medicine, research and development or industrial sectors.
Dr Firdausi Qadri shares the view and dreams of improving people’s lives through the use of scientific research and technology.
And her relentless efforts to this end has brought her many accolades, most notably her recent inclusion in a high-level 10-member UN panel on a proposed Technology Bank and Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Supporting Mechanism dedicated to help the LDCs emerge out of poverty.
In an exclusive interview with The Daily Star recently, Dr Qadri spoke of the challenges the LDCs face in scientific research and development of technologies, while shedding light on the probable actions the Technology Bank can take.
Promoting important technologies, collaboration among research institutions in the developing countries, and utilising innovations to improve lives would be the prime goals of the proposed body, she said.
"At present, individuals and institutions have to work in an isolated manner without the knowledge of what is available and whom to network with. Lack of collaboration often hinders improvement of innovations in the LDCs. Once the Technology Bank and STI planning is underway, we can expect stronger cooperation and sharing of knowledge," said DrQadri.
The Bank will have three components - patent bank; science, technology and innovation supporting mechanism; and repository facility.
Dr Qadri thinks the LDCs lag behind the developed countries in patenting innovations.
"Many innovations take place in the LDCs, but they are not patented. So, if you publish an innovation without getting it patented, others use it without paying any fee and you remain deprived."
So, the idea of the patent bank is to preserve all the patented innovations and use these across the LDCs as applicable, she said.
"For example, a low-cost scientific diagnostic test or vaccine developed in Bangladesh can be applied somewhere in Africa. In that case, Africa may not need to invest in developing such technology, but can use it by paying the fees," said Dr Qadri, whose key scientific achievements lie in enteric and diarrhoeal infections and vaccines.
Also, the LDCs do not have a central database of researchers or scientists or institutions. If the Technology Bank has such a database, networking and collaboration among those people and institutions would be easy, she added.
These are the issues expected to come up in the first meeting of the panel in February, said Dr Qadri, who is serving as the director at the Centre for Vaccine Sciences of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh
(icddr.b).
The panel would also analyse the inadequacies and opportunities in the field of science and technology in the LDCs in the meeting and advise UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accordingly. On the basis of that, the UN would decide the organisational structure of the Technology Bank.
She also stressed the need to encourage and patronise the young talents of Bangladesh.
"There are many talented Bangladeshi scientists working abroad. Once a strong scientific and research base is established in Bangladesh, they will return home. This will stop brain drain too," said Dr Qadri, whose scientific achievements earned her the Institut de France's Christophe M^rieux Prize in 2012 and the CNR Rao Prize of The World Academy of Sciences in 2013.
In 2012, she on her own started an initiative named Institute for Developing Science and Health Initiatives to create awareness strengthen capacity and power innovations to make Bangladesh a leader in the field of technology and health research in the region.
How does she feel to have been appointed in the UN panel? A beaming Qadri said, "This is a great opportunity for me to work to improve people's lives. I was doing it at national level so far, but the new appointment has given me a chance to work at the global level."