Cera Products

From 1982 to 1985, Cera founder Charlene Riikonen witnessed firsthand the devastating effects of dehydration in Bangladesh. To make a difference, she took on a role raising funds for research at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDRB) in Dhaka. Cholera outbreaks were causing widespread suffering and death. In the early 1980s, she and ICDDRB doctors worked to halt the extensive mortality and malnutrition caused by severe dehydration. By implementing innovative teaching and training programs developed by Riikonen, they collaborated with Bangladesh's Ministry of Health to roll out Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) to villages across Bangladesh. Working alongside future company collaborators Drs. WB Greenough and David Sack, Riikonen also collaborated with other pioneering leaders of the ORS movement, including Drs. Norbert Hirschhorn, Richard Cash, David Nalin, Charles CJ Carpenter, R. Bradley Sack, Nathaniel Carpenter, James Taylor, and Dimon Barua. Prior to this movement, IV hydration therapy was actively promoted to correct dehydration. When dealing with epidemics and treating thousands of people simultaneously, IVs are impractical. They are difficult to administer, invasive, expensive, and painful. IVs are much costlier than ORS. Another complication is that patients, especially children, may become dehydrated and administering IVs can be challenging.