Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Six Australian ICC World T20 cricketers have taken time out in Dhaka to learn how Australian taxpayers’ money is saving lives in Bangladesh.
The players – Aaron Finch, David Warner, Cameron White, Glenn Maxwell, Nathan Coulter-Nile and James Muirhead – were joined by Cricket Australia Chief Medical Officer Justin Paoloni on a visit to ICDDRB’s Dhaka Hospital on Thursday afternoon as part of Cricket Cares, Cricket Australia’s community action programme.
They spent an hour at the world renowned public health research institution, receiving a briefing on health issues and achievements in Bangladesh, and touring the ICDDRB’s hospital, which treats over 200,000 of Dhaka’s poorest residents each year free of charge.
The players also chatted with Australian researchers working at ICDDRB and met a number of national staff who were able to study in Australia, thanks to Australian government scholarships, an ICBBRB statement said.
The ICDDRB has received Australian support for over 50 years, and has developed products, programs and policies that are credited with saving at least 50 million lives worldwide. Other funding comes from the British, Canadian and Swedish governments and major donors such as the Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States.
Professor John D. Clemens, Executive Director of ICDDRB, said the players’ visit extended the many existing links between Australia and the centre. “I thanked them for the lives saved and transformed by Australian taxpayer funding, and said they should be as proud of this as they are when representing their country on the cricket field.”
Professor Clemens said Bangladesh had made excellent progress in recent decades in dealing with the numerous complex and tragic health issues related to extreme poverty.
BBN/SSR/AD-28Mar14-10:01 pm (BST)
