According to the US Embassy in Dhaka, Frieden will discuss with health officials the US-Bangladesh cooperation on public health issues and strengthening their partnership.
He will come along with a US Congressional delegation which will also arrive in Dhaka on Saturday amid ongoing recommendations by some Congressmen to withdraw, suspend or limit the duty-free access of Bangladeshi products to the US market under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) facility.
The US Embassy did not provide details of the Congressional delegation visit, but bdnews24.com New York Correspondent Ansar Lovlu quoting Bangladesh mission there said the delegates would meet the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister and visit garment factories around Dhaka.
CDC, a US federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services, has been supporting Bangladesh for the last six years in the fields ranging from upgrading laboratories to disease outbreak investigations.
“We’re working closely with CDC for the last six years. They supported us during the time of pandemic influenza and also helped us in upgrading our laboratories,” Prof Mahmudur Rahman, Director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), told bdnews24.com.
They also help Bangladesh in any outbreak investigations, he said adding that in collaboration with them, IEDCR was going to start an epidemiology training course for government doctors which is extensive in nature and available only in 53 countries.
“So his visit to Bangladesh is definitely important for us as he will see our activities here and we will shape our future public health collaborations,” he said.
Prof Rahman said Dr Frieden would visit IEDCR and attend a roundtable in ICDDR,B on Sunday.
A physician with training in internal medicine, infectious diseases, public health, and epidemiology, Dr Frieden is especially known for his expertise in tuberculosis control... http://bdnews24.com/health/2013/01/25/us-cdc-director-due-saturday
