Wednesday, 05 February, 2025
The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) has suffered a major setback due to a new policy by the United States, with over 1,000 employees reportedly receiving termination letters.
These staff members have been receiving letters in phases since Wednesday.
The employees worked on various research projects funded by various government agencies, including the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID.
AKM Tariful Islam Khan, senior manager of communications at ICDDR,B said on Friday that, as per the instructions of the US government, the projects and research they funded have been suspended until further notice.
"We express our sympathy and regret for the inconvenience caused to our service recipients, partners and colleagues. We are hopeful that we will be able to restart our activities again."
The highest number of job losses occurred in the tuberculosis program under the infectious diseases division. Employees in this program were working in collaboration with the government’s National Tuberculosis Control Program.
On January 25, the USAID office at the US Embassy in Dhaka issued a letter instructing all NGOs and partner organizations to immediately halt or suspend all activities. The letter referenced an executive order by US President Donald Trump, which suspended existing foreign aid and halted new assistance.
However, emergency food aid and military assistance to Israel and Egypt were exempt from this order.
USAID is a major funding source for icddr,b, providing more than 20% of its annual budget. The institution employs over 5,000 researchers, officers and staff.
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The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) has suffered a major setback due to a new policy by the United States, with over 1,000 employees reportedly receiving termination letters.
These staff members have been receiving letters in phases since Wednesday.
The employees worked on various research projects funded by various government agencies, including the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID.
AKM Tariful Islam Khan, senior manager of communications at ICDDR,B said on Friday that, as per the instructions of the US government, the projects and research they funded have been suspended until further notice.
"We express our sympathy and regret for the inconvenience caused to our service recipients, partners and colleagues. We are hopeful that we will be able to restart our activities again."
The highest number of job losses occurred in the tuberculosis program under the infectious diseases division. Employees in this program were working in collaboration with the government’s National Tuberculosis Control Program.
On January 25, the USAID office at the US Embassy in Dhaka issued a letter instructing all NGOs and partner organizations to immediately halt or suspend all activities. The letter referenced an executive order by US President Donald Trump, which suspended existing foreign aid and halted new assistance.
However, emergency food aid and military assistance to Israel and Egypt were exempt from this order.
USAID is a major funding source for icddr,b, providing more than 20% of its annual budget. The institution employs over 5,000 researchers, officers and staff.
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