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Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh
Established on 6 February 2005, CIPRB conducts research and delivers national-scale programmes in partnership with the Government of Bangladesh, United Nations agencies and academic institutions worldwide.
Executive Director Dr Aminur Rahman has been awarded the King Edward VII Cup 2026 by the Royal Life Saving Society Commonwealth, the first recipient from Bangladesh and one of fifteen worldwide in more than four decades, following the Society's HRH Prince Michael of Kent Certificate of Merit 2024.
Read more →People reached
Districts covered
Children trained in survival swimming
Years of operation
The evidence base
The Bangladesh Health and Injury Survey 2023 was conducted across all 64 districts with the Directorate General of Health Services and the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, covering more than 420,000 people. It is the evidence on which national injury policy now rests.
Injury mortality rate per 100,000 population, all ages
Source: Bangladesh Health and Injury Survey 2023, reported in CIPRB's Annual Report 2023. Falls cause the most non-fatal injury, at 3,244 per 100,000, followed by cuts at 2,002 and road traffic injury at 1,835.
Areas of work
CIPRB was established following the Bangladesh Health and Injury Survey, the largest community-based injury survey conducted in any low or middle income country. The approach has remained consistent: establish the burden through research, test interventions, and provide government with the evidence required to adopt them at national scale.
Flagship
Delivered through the International Drowning Research Centre Bangladesh, comprising the SwimSafe, Anchal and SeaSafe programmes.
With UNFPA
Obstetric fistula elimination, maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response, and safe motherhood, with the health and family planning directorates.
Policy
Research and technical support to government on speed management guidance and comprehensive road safety legislation, aligned to the Safe System Approach.
Community-level surveillance, first response and prevention research addressing one of the most under-recorded injuries in rural Bangladesh.
Research on maternal and child nutrition, delivered through the same community platforms that carry the centre's injury prevention work.
Prevention and management research addressing the conditions that now account for the largest share of the national disease burden.
Research on suicide and self-harm prevention, and on the mental health consequences of injury and disaster.
Rehabilitation, assistive services and inclusive programme design, recognising that survival is not the end point of an injury.
Field research on vector-borne and neglected tropical diseases, which track closely with poverty and with climate exposure.
Flagship programmes
In May 2022 the World Health Organization recognised Anchal, SwimSafe and CIPRB's first responder training as best practice for drowning prevention in low and middle income countries.
Supervised daycare for children aged one to five during the daytime hours in which most drowning occurs. Under the Nirapode Bhasa Project, 150 Anchal centres serve approximately 3,700 children in Taltoli, Barguna and Bakerganj, Barishal.
against drowning, as established by research and reported in the Annual Report 2023
Children graduate once they can swim 25 metres, float or tread water for 30 seconds and perform a land-based reach and throw rescue. In 2026, with the support of UNICEF, CIPRB is training 16,400 children across eight districts including the Dhaka city corporations.
against drowning for children aged 6 to 10, with 700,000+ trained to date
The only professional beach lifeguard service in Bangladesh, in operation for twelve years at the country's principal tourist destination. CIPRB is working with the Bangladesh Tourism Board on extension to further beaches.
across three sea beaches at Cox's Bazar
National adoption
In 2024 the Bangladesh Shishu Academy, under the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, formally took over CIPRB's 2,299 functional CreCHeS childcare centres and the 57,475 children attending them.
In April 2024 the Academy launched the Integrated Community-Based Center for Child Care, Protection and Swim-Safe Facilities Project, operating 8,000 childcare centres nationwide. CIPRB continues to provide technical leadership for survival swimming and first response training, and implements directly in Barishal. The CreCHeS Project was delivered with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, across seven upazilas in Sirajganj, Sherpur, Narsingdi, Chandpur and Cumilla.
Project Bhasa, delivered with the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs and technical support from the RNLI and the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation, phased out in the same year, with its 516 Anchal centres and SwimSafe activities absorbed into the government programme.
2024 in numbers
Source: CIPRB Annual Report 2024. Road safety monitoring was conducted in Dhaka North and Chattogram City Corporations with the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety, using observation protocols from the Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit.
Obstetric fistula is treatable and largely preventable, yet it persists where poverty, early marriage and distance from care coincide. Since January 2019 the Directorate General of Health Services has implemented the End Obstetric Fistula Programme across Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Habiganj and Sunamganj, funded by UNFPA with technical support from CIPRB and four functional fistula corners at district hospitals.
In 2024 alone
53 per cent of cases were found on plain land, 43 per cent in haor areas and the remainder in tea gardens. Fifteen per cent of patients had lived with the condition for more than ten years.
Sylhet Division, January 2019 to December 2023
Rehabilitation is coordinated with the Departments of Social Welfare and Women's Affairs to support survivors returning to work and to community life.
Where we work
The Bangladesh Health and Injury Survey 2023 was conducted across all 64 districts and more than 420,000 people, in partnership with the Directorate General of Health Services and the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. Programme coverage can be filtered by programme, by partner and by year.
All programmes
0 districts
News and events
CIPRB convened officials of the Directorate General of Health Services and the Bangladesh Road Safety Project, with financial support from the Global Road Safety Partnership. Programme Manager Kazi Burhan Uddin presented research findings on speeding, helmet use, seatbelts and child restraints, and identified gaps between existing national law and the Safe System Approach. Deputy Executive Director Dr Salim Mahmud Chowdhury called for comprehensive, evidence-based legislation aligned to international standards.
The Royal Life Saving Society Commonwealth, a United Kingdom charity governed by Royal Charter, has conferred its highest service award on Dr Aminur Rahman for his contribution to drowning prevention internationally. He is the first recipient from Bangladesh and one of fifteen worldwide in more than four decades.
An advocacy meeting at the Civil Surgeon's Office, funded by UNFPA with technical assistance from CIPRB, brought together thirty participants from the district hospital, the Family Planning Department and the Department of Women Affairs to strengthen identification, referral and treatment.
At a workshop convened by the Bangladesh Tourism Board and the district administration in Cox's Bazar, CIPRB presented twelve years of lifeguard service and requested extension of the service to further beaches.
CIPRB is delivering survival swimming training to 16,400 children across eight districts in 2026. In Dhaka, 388 of a planned 1,000 children had completed training at the time of reporting. Covered by Ekattor Television.
Marking the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, CIPRB set out how the Nirapode Bhasa Project combines Anchal daycare and SwimSafe training with work to make both interventions more climate-resilient.
A rip current at Shugondha Beach, Cox's Bazar put forty young tourists at risk. The SeaSafe lifeguard team responded with jet-ski support and all forty were brought in. Across 2024 the service rescued 143 people and recorded no drowning deaths inside its patrolled areas.
Who we are
CIPRB began its journey in 2005 with a vision to eliminate injuries from Bangladesh. Its work now spans health, safety and community development, and has been replicated across several Asian countries.
Twenty-one years
CIPRB founded on 6 February, following the Bangladesh Health and Injury Survey.
Contributed to the World Report on Child Injury Prevention.
Reproductive and Child Health division launched, followed by the Non-Communicable Disease, Road Traffic Injury and International Drowning Prevention and Research divisions.
Community-led child drowning prevention measures developed and recognised internationally.
Maternal and Perinatal Death Review and Quality Care Model established. Bangladesh Health and Injury Survey repeated.
Nationwide Blindness Survey conducted with National Eye Care and the Directorate General of Health Services.
United Nations Resolution on Drowning Prevention adopted.
WHO recognises Anchal, SwimSafe and first responder training as best practice for low and middle income countries.
Bangladesh Health and Injury Survey conducted across all 64 districts. World Health Assembly adopts its resolution on drowning prevention.
Government adopts the model. The Bangladesh Shishu Academy takes over 2,299 childcare centres and 57,475 children, and scales to 8,000 centres nationwide.
How we work
CIPRB's Safeguarding Policy for Children and Vulnerable Adults has been in force since 2019, with mandatory orientation for all staff at head office and in the field, a visitors' code of conduct, and a seven-member safeguarding committee chaired by the Executive Director.
What that means for the images on this site
Leadership
CIPRB's research and programmes are directed by a team with doctoral training at Karolinska Institutet and Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, and with clinical, programmatic and policy experience across the Bangladeshi health system.
Executive Director
PhD, Karolinska Institutet. Director of the International Drowning Research Centre Bangladesh and Portfolio Director for Drowning Prevention at the Royal Life Saving Society Commonwealth.
Deputy Executive Director
MPH and PhD, Karolinska Institutet. Responsible for the organisation's operations since 2015, alongside his research role.
Director, Reproductive and Child Health
Obstetrician and gynaecologist. PhD, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine; MPH, Karolinska Institutet; FCPS and MS in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Over thirty years across clinical, programme and research work, leading the department since 2010.
Team Leader, Reproductive and Child Health
MPH, North South University; MSc in Microbiology and a degree in veterinary medicine, Bangladesh Agricultural University. More than fifteen years in public health and over thirty published research articles.
Case story
Women living with obstetric fistula are frequently separated from work, from family and from community life. Surgical repair addresses the condition; it does not on its own restore livelihood or social standing.
Of the 448 women identified through the Sylhet Division programme, 179 have received need-based rehabilitation support, coordinated with the Departments of Social Welfare and Women's Affairs. In the tea garden communities, where early marriage and distance from care place women at highest risk, 26 estates have been screened and declared fistula-free, supported by awareness materials developed with the Civil Surgeon of Moulvibazar and UNFPA.
Read more case storiesAccountability
CIPRB's accounts are externally audited each year. The figures below are from the consolidated statements for the financial year ended 30 June 2024, audited by Artisan Chartered Accountants.
Total income
BDT 54.7 crore
547,231,023
Of which donor grants
BDT 42.8 crore
427,926,885
Expenditure by category, year ended 30 June 2024
Annual reports
Each report sets out the year's research, programmes, awards and audited accounts.
Also published
Scientific publications, case stories, activity reports, fact sheets, brochures and newsletters are indexed in the searchable publications repository.
Browse all publicationsPartners and collaborators
Contributions are directed to programmes with published evidence of effect. You may make a single contribution or support a child through a full season of survival swimming training.
Ask CIPRB
Answers drawn from published research
Suggested questions
Prototype. In production this is grounded on CIPRB's publications and FAQ content.
