Abdullah H Baqui at Kumudini Medical College Hospital in 2012

Abdullah H. Baqui is a

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

scientist who demonstrated the effectiveness of simple but effective strategies to reduce preventable

newborn An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...

deaths.

Biography

Baqui was born and grew up in Gopalganj district in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). He graduated from

Dhaka Medical College Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (abbreviated DMCH) is a public medical college and hospital located in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. It houses medical school as well as a tertiary care hospital on one campus. The country's first eve ...

in 1976, and completed his Masters studies in Public Health (MPH) and Doctorate in Public Health (DrPH) from

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. As the second independent, degree-granting institution for research in epi ...

, Baltimore, USA in 1985 and in 1990 respectively. Baqui's research confirmed: (a) the use of

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

supplementation during

diarrhea Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin wi ...

to reduce the severity of

child mortality Child mortality is the mortality of children under the age of five. The child mortality rate, also under-five mortality rate, refers to the probability of dying between birth and exactly five years of age expressed per 1,000 live births. It en ...

. (b) the effectiveness of trained

community health worker A community health officer is a member of a community who is chosen by community members or organizations to provide basic health and medical care within their community, and is capable of providing preventive, promotional and rehabilitation care t ...

s providing home based health care to reduce

neonatal mortality Perinatal mortality (PNM) refers to the death of a fetus or neonate and is the basis to calculate the perinatal mortality rate. Variations in the precise definition of the perinatal mortality exist, specifically concerning the issue of inclusion o ...

by one-third. and (c) use of Hib vaccination in Bangladesh to reduce the incidence of

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or ...

and X-ray documented

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

in children. Each of these studies has influenced policy decisions. For example,

WHO Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...

and

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

have now recommended the use of zinc as an

adjuvant therapy Adjuvant therapy, also known as adjunct therapy, adjuvant care, or augmentation therapy, is a therapy that is given in addition to the primary or initial therapy to maximize its effectiveness. The surgeries and complex treatment regimens used in ...

for diarrheal episode. Bangladesh developed a national neonatal health strategy in 2009 that references Baqui's work. More recently a WHO-UNICEF joint statement recommends home visits by trained community health worker as a strategy to improve neonatal survival, based in part on Baqui's research. Baqui became a professor in the Department of

International Health International health, also called ''geographic medicine'', '' international medicine'', or ''global health'', is a field of health care, usually with a public health emphasis, dealing with health across regional or national boundaries. One subset ...

at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2009. In May 2012, the CORE Group honored Baqui with the Dory Storms Child Survival Recognition Award. Baqui also received a recognition award in 2012 from the Bangladesh Medical Association in North America. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baqui, Abdullah Living people People from Gopalganj District, Bangladesh Dhaka Medical College alumni Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health alumni Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health faculty Bangladeshi public health doctors Bangladeshi emigrants to the United States Year of birth missing (living people)