At Chittagong’s Abdur Rahman Govt. Girls' High School and Shawshankmala Govt. Primary School, our team performed blood grouping and hepatitis B screening, free of cost to the participants. All participants were thanked with CHRF gift hampers for their time and cooperation. This program is part of a larger study to generate evidence on typhoid burden and detect which areas in Bangladesh are to be prioritised for the introduction of the typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV).

But how can we visit schools with bright young minds and not have discussions about science and scientists?

Fans of CHRF’s Director & Scientist, Dr. Senjuti Saha, had been eagerly waiting for us with fanmail including cards and heartfelt letters. These young students had met engineers and doctors before, but never a scientist. Facing an audience of 1500 students, we talked about what it means to be a scientist and how anybody can think like a scientist. The love and appreciation we received were unbelievable. Their enthusiasm gave us hope to keep working towards, ‘building scientists for Bangladesh’.

Lastly, we would also like to extend our sincerest gratitude to the respective school authorities and board members for hosting us. We look forward to the coming months as we keep advocating for introduction of the typhoid conjugate vaccine and promoting science education wherever we go!