Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research
Bangladesh's national institute for disease surveillance and outbreak investigation.
The Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research, founded in 1976, ran Bangladesh's first COVID-19 tests; in 2026 a former senior scientist there criticised the measles campaign as deaths reached 1,030 by 14 September.
Last refreshed: 4 October 2026
Timeline for Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research
Mentioned in: Bangladesh: 1,030 die of measles in 2026
Pandemics and BiosecurityBackground
The Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) is Bangladesh's national institute for disease surveillance, outbreak investigation and communicable-disease research. It was founded in 1976, absorbing an earlier Malaria institute from the East Pakistan era, and works in Dhaka under the health ministry.
During the COVID-19 pandemic it was the country's first coronavirus testing facility and ran national epidemiological surveillance.
Bangladesh's 2026 measles epidemic brought one of its former staff into the public argument. Mushtuq Hussain, a former IEDCR principal scientific officer, warned that "you have to maintain equity" and argued that the vaccination campaign's target undercounted the children who needed doses. By 14 September Bangladesh had recorded 1,030 measles-related deaths, against none in 2025, after second-dose coverage fell to 80.7% in 2023.
A former IEDCR scientist faulted the campaign
measles had killed 1,030 people in Bangladesh by 14 September 2026, from 172,720 suspected cases, where 2025 brought 132 cases and no deaths. Mushtuq Hussain, once a principal scientific officer at IEDCR, argued that the campaign launched in April 2026 aimed at too few of the children WHO needed doses.
IEDCR, Bangladesh's surveillance institute since 1976, tracks outbreaks for the health ministry in Dhaka. Second-dose measles coverage slid from 89% in 2019 to 80.7% in 2023, and the last catch-up drive before 2026 ran in the winter of 2020-21.