Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said his organization will extend support to Bangladesh's vaccination program.
Bill Gates gave the assurance on a courtesy call with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Bilateral Meeting Room of the Lotte New York Palace Hotel in New York City, on Thursday.
After the meeting, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen briefed reporters.
He said Bill Gates highly appreciated Bangladesh's unprecedented successes in the health sector, particularly with regard to its vaccination programs.
The prime minister apprised Bill Gates of the successful immunization programs of her government.
Sheikh Hasina also told Bill Gates that the forcibly displaced Rohingya people who took shelter in Cox's Bazar have been brought under the programs.
"Not a single person in the Rohingya refugee camps has died of any type of disease that can be prevented by immunization," she said.
In reply, Bill Gates said they are ready to help Bangladesh in its vaccination programs.
He informed the prime minister that they have developed a new type of vaccine that can help protect people from various diseases like typhoid and cholera.
PM's ICT Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Saima Wazed Hossain, chairperson of the National Advisory Committee on Autism and NDDs, Bangladesh, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, PM's Private Investment and Industry Adviser Salman F Rahman, Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque, and PMO Secretary Sajjadul Hassan were present on the occasion.
Alex V Volkov, chairman, ExxonMobil LNG Market Development Inc, Irina Bokova, former director general of Unesco, and ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda called on the premier separately at the same hotel, Momen said.
He said that at the meeting with ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, the prime minister discussed the Rohingya issue, particularly the atrocities committed on the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals.
