Notes from the Field: Bangladesh

It’s 1:00 a.m. and I’ve arrived in Dhaka, Bangladesh after a 14-hour layover in Kuala Lumpur. Getting to this part of the world is never easy.

I awoke the next morning and my internal clock was all wound up not knowing whether I should still be asleep or have something to eat. I ventured out to meet with Dr. Steve Luby, the head of ICDDR,B (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh), who was very enthusiastic about the prospects of testing wild migratory waterfowl and suggested I travel with another colleague to visit some potential field sites.

After reserving a vehicle we set out to Netrokona to visit haours (lakes). We visited about five haours and rode through some incredible villages along the way.

Bangladeshis are very welcoming. As soon as I stepped out of the vehicle, a crowd of villagers came over to meet me and find out what I was doing there. At first I didn’t know what to expect from my new-found 15 minutes of fame but with big smiles and friendly inquisitiveness they asked where I was from and my answer excited them even more.

On the surface, Bangladesh is a poor country, and the signs of poverty are sometimes a shock to those of us who live in big cities in the West. But it’s doing a lot better than 20 or 30 years ago, and it’s a place on the move. One surprise to me was realizing that every village has mobile phone service – a curious observation against the image of a poor country. But it’s improved a lot in the past 20-30 years. I was surprised to realize that almost every village has mobile phone service – a curious fact when compared to the general poverty of the country.

We continued on for lunch but regrettably the rice and eel I ate with my bare hands did not welcome me into the culture straight away! Enough said on that topic for now – I guess I’ll have to get used to it.

Later that night I met with Dr. Ahmed (the District livestock officer for Netrokona). We discussed the absence of resident migratory ducks and I was able to witness surgery on a cow performed on a sidewalk – antiseptic and all. I retired for the evening knowing we were to return to Dhaka early the next morning.

On our morning “commute” the traffic was staggering! It made NYC traffic look tame, and the rules of the road are similar to mariners on the open sea. Quite simply, if the vehicle approaching or following you is bigger than what you’re driving – just get out of the way.

Not surprisingly, based on those road rules, all of the buses had crinkled sides, gouged dents and copious rusty scrapes. I can’t even fathom the amount of accidents that occur on a daily basis and, sad to say, the traffic took its toll on local dogs.

I had extremely helpful meetings with Dr. Loth (FAO consultant for Avian influenza) and Dr. Andre (USAID technical advisor) seeking advice on my current project. Afterwards, I met with my go-to colleague, Dr. Uddin, who runs Avian influenza surveillance in Bangladesh.

Conducting fieldwork is no easy task anywhere in the world, and the mountains of paperwork that need to be submitted before I began field work is daunting, but I must follow protocol and wait for the approval process to run its course.

Another EcoHealth Alliance scientist, Jim Desmond, was working in the southern part of Bangladesh and called me on my cell phone to give me the news that he’d just seen a live Bengal tiger walking on a trail in the Sundarban. Meanwhile, I’m stuck in my hotel room behind a stack of forms. Needless to say I was extremely jealous.

So far, my stay in this country has gone well and I look forward to settling down to some hands-on work and helping to deal with the problem of Avian influenza.

Reporting from Bangladesh, EcoHealth Alliance scientist Kurt Vandegrift is working toward monitoring highly pathogenic Avian influenza in wild migratory waterfowl.