Rafiqul Islam (c. 1936 – 5 March 2018) was a Bangladeshi physician and medical scientist. He is known for the discovery of food saline (Orsaline) for the treatment of diarrhea. In 1971, fighting during the Bangladesh Liberation War displaced millions and an epidemic of cholera ensued among the refugees. When IV fluid ran out in the refugee camps, Rafiqul Islam and Dilip Mahalanabis, a physician working with the Johns Hopkins International Center for Medical Research and Training in Calcutta, instructed to prepare and distribute an oral rehydration solution prepared from individual ingredients to family members and caregivers. Over 3,000 people with cholera received ORT in this way. The mortality rate was 3.6 percent among those given ORT compared with 30 percent in those given IV fluid therapy. It was also known as "Dhaka Saline". After the independence of Bangladesh, a wide circulation campaign was conducted on the use of saline in the treatment of diarrhea. In the year 1980, the World Health Organization recognized Orosaline. In the early 1970s, Norbert Hirschhorn used oral rehydration therapy on the White River Apache Indian Reservation with a grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He made the important observation that children would voluntarily drink as much of the solution as needed to restore hydration, and that rehydration and early re-feeding would protect their nutrition. This led to increased use of ORT for children with diarrhea, especially in developing countries. In 1980 the Bangladeshi nonprofit BRAC created a door-to-door and person-to-person sales force to teach ORT for use by mothers at home. A task force of fourteen women, one cook and one male supervisor traveled from village to village. After visiting with women in several villages, they hit upon the idea of encouraging the women in the village to make their own oral rehydration fluid. They used available household equipment, starting with a "half a seer" (half a quart) of water and adding a fistful of sugar and a three-finger pinch of salt. Later on, the approach was broadcast over television and radio and a market for oral rehydration salts packets developed. Three decades later, national surveys have found that almost 90% of children with severe diarrhea in Bangladesh are given oral rehydration fluids at home or in a health facility. From 2006 to 2011, UNICEF estimated that worldwide about a third of children under 5 who had diarrhea received an oral rehydration solution, with estimates ranging from 30% to 41% depending on the region.