If you ever saw her, even just once, you would never forget this elegant lady in great silky broader dresses; she often uses roses in her shiny black hair or patterned into the designs of her clothes. With the serenity of a master, she enters the stage and sings and plays like an angel; and of course, after all that you may be led to believe a famous artist is visiting The Hague.
Of course this is all true but the lady on the stage beside the Ambassador of Bangladesh, is in fact his wife, Dr Dilruba Nasrin, an epidemiologist and a medical doctor involved in teaching and scientific research in Asia and Africa, as a faculty at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in the United States.
Since 2006, Dr Nasrin has been coordinating an epidemiological study of the diarrhoeal disease burden in Asia and Africa, in coordination with the University of Maryland, and supported by the Bill and Belinda Gates Foundation. She frequently travels to the United States but also to Mali, Kenya, Gambia, Mozambique, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, she has been working for children health throughout her professional life.
Her work has been published extensively since 1999 in international medical reviews, mainly concerning the use and resistance of antibiotics, children pulmonary diseases and the diarrhoeal epidemic; the microorganism, spread, treatment and immunological response.
Dr Nasrin’s passionate career and her duty beside her husband are more than a little demanding; H.E. Sheik Mohammed Belal said: “She is an amazing woman and I consider myself extremely lucky to have her on my side.”
What are your long-term goals?
I guess, I can summarize my short-term, long-term or my life-time goal into one word and it is “happiness”. I like to spread happiness around me within my limited capacity. I know happiness is not something ready-made; one has to work hard to achieve it. I have quite a few passions, so I try to balance my time between my family and my passions. But if you ask me if I can single out my main passion, it would be working with children. Being a researcher in child health, most of my professional life I worked with children, a major part of my work part is devoted to children in developing countries.
I grew up in Bangladesh, therefore I am aware of the challenges that a child may face in developing countries to enjoy the basic childhood needs. I believe that every child should have the opportunity to grow up healthy. In order to see that happen I have been engaged in programs to improve the health and wellbeing of children. I believe a multi-sector partnership approach that includes health, education and social services that could make a difference.
How do you combine your professional career with being the spouse of an ambassador?
It is not easy to maintain a full time job while being a spouse with lot of ceremonial demands. But you can do that as long as you are passionate about them. I learnt to combine many different roles early on in life, I had my daughter in the midst of tough study in medical school. Then I started my PhD in Epidemiology with my 8 month old son. If there is a challenge I don’t like to complain, instead I like to take it on board. I continued my study, my profession, and my family life without compromising the best care for my children.
Currently, I am a full-time research professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. I am fortunate that I could manage remote work arrangements for my job, but I still have to travel frequently to Africa, Asia and USA, but being wife of an Ambassador is not less than a full time job! I stand by my husband to organize all the national events, participate in the other diplomatic events in the Netherlands, and also be an active member of Ambassador’s Spouse Association.
If my time permits, I also participate in the events organized by the International Women Club, The Hague. I try to organize my calendar long ahead to help me doing all those jobs. On the top of everything I do, I am a proud mother of two beautiful children, who are studying in the USA. I am a passionate Mother when it comes to anything related to my children.
What events do you organise or participate in with the diaspora or the diplomatic community?
I take part in organizing all the Bangladesh national events including International Mothers Language Day, National Day, Bengali New Year Day, Children’s Day and Victory Day. In every event I always make sure that there is a part devoted to the children. The reason is our children, who are growing up abroad, may not have the environment to practice our mother tongue and culture. I try to inspire our mother tongue at home, so that our children will continue our heritage. In every country we lived in I engaged myself in children’s forum for language, music and dance. We invite other countries to participate in our programs as I believe in the concept of universal community.
Would you please elaborate on what you mean by universal community?
In this globalised world any violation of rights in one part of the world is bound to be felt in another part. As a working health activist, when I visit developing countries I could almost see it with my eyes how deprivation in one part of the world is hampering peace and development in other parts of the world. Had the developed world invested enough for more vigorous researches in diseases, which mostly affect the developing world, like diarrohea, malaria, typhoid, etc, we could have saved thousands, if not millions, of lives. This realisation made me convinced to work for a universal community where we will work as a member of this globalised world.
How advanced are your investigations?
My current study is vaccine impact on diarrhoea in Africa, which started a year ago and it has two more years to go. This study represents an extension of our previous study named Global Enteric Multicenter Study (GEMS). GEMS is the largest study of the diarrhoeal disease in children ever conducted in developing country settings. As you may know many different bacteria, viruses and other pathogens cause diarrhoeal disease. The objective of GEMS was to prioritize and target interventions to reduce the global burden of diarrhoeal diseases. Key findings from GEMS were published in the Lancet in May 2013.
The study identified only four out of ~40 pathogens that were responsible for the majority of diarrhoea cases. The leading pathogen of diarrhoea was rotavirus in young children. Vaccine against rotavirus recently rolled out in developing countries. Our ongoing study aims to assess the impact of a rotavirus vaccine introduction on the epidemiology of diarrhoea, and the adverse consequences of diarrhoea, like death and malnutrition in children.
I would like to hear your views on supporting your country with your husband and how your work will benefit Bangladesh and the developing world.
My husband considers his tenure in the Netherlands as a “water pilgrimage” and I strongly support his view. Bangladesh has many common aspects with the Netherlands, especially when it comes to water, as both are delta countries. My country progressed over the years and made a huge success with regards to women in education, lower infant and maternal mortality. However because of the geographical location of the country in between world’s three largest river systems (Ganges-Brahmaputra, Meghna), my country is still struggling with flooding every year.
The Netherlands made it possible to make their own country flood free for many years. There are many things to learn from the Netherlands, including preventing flood and natural disasters, land reclamation etc.
I hardly miss any opportunity to accompany my husband when he traverses this country, in search of clues for innovations and creativity that could be replicated in Bangladesh. I try to complement his effort, as he is trying to develop his Embassy as a virtual bridge for knowledge transfer between our two countries and businesses.
One aspect, I wish to emphasize though is how impressed I am with the academic quality and quantum of academic activities in the Netherlands. This is why, I wonder, at times, how we could best connect our educational institutions with that of the Netherlands. So, I am always there, along with my husband, to make this academic connectivity the best we can. I believe, of all the hats I wear, the one of an academic charm must be increased.
As we live in this beautiful country and among all these beautiful people, it is easy to forget that there are still far too many children, mostly in the developing world, who do not have access to the essential health services they need to merely survive. So, whenever, I get opportunity I try to engage in discussion with our friends to create awareness. Given the monumental advances that have been made in public health, most of these diseases are preventable and curable.
If we could do little bit more to give all children the chance they deserve. Let me quote Bono to conclude: “Where you live should not determine whether you live”. I wish I could do more but, at the end of the day, I am also a woman from developing world. This is not my excuse, but my resolve.
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Photography by Marian van Noort for Diplomat Magazine.
