Matlab

Matlab is a place in Chandpur District of Chittagong Division, Bangladesh, about 55 km southeast of Dhaka. It was an upazila and is described as a former thana of the district; in 2000 its administrative area was divided into Matlab Dakshin Upazila and Matlab Uttar Upazila. It is best known for the Matlab Health and Demographic Surveillance Site, set up in 1963 by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, which holds one of the world's longest-running records of births, deaths and migration. The area is low-lying and subject to annual flooding, with a sub-tropical climate and about 2159 mm of rain a year. Oral rehydration solution was first trialed here in 1968 and is now estimated to have saved around 50 million lives globally.