Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research
Profile
- Head
- Prof Dr Tahmina Shirin
- Role
- Director
- Annual budget
- —
- Staff
- —
- Established
- 1976
- Legal basis
- Established in 1976 as an autonomous research institute under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, incorporating the former Malaria Institute of East Pakistan (which originated from the Central Malaria Institute of India before the 1947 partition). Operates under the Rules of Business 1996 (Schedule I) as a subordinate office of the Health Services Division.
Confirmed the sole 2026 Nipah case (Naogaon, January 2026; IHR notified 3 February 2026), bringing Bangladesh's cumulative total to 348 NiV cases and 250 deaths since 2001 (72% CFR); running dengue, Nipah, AMR, anthrax, and One Health EBS dashboards; providing PHEOC epidemiological support for the concurrent measles outbreak. Sentinel Nipah surveillance operational since 2006 across endemic districts.
Recent activity
- 2026-01-28 other IEDCR confirmed Bangladesh's first Nipah virus case of 2026: a female aged 40-50 from Naogaon District, Rajshahi Division, who developed fever on 21 January and died on 28 January; laboratory confirmation by RT-PCR and ELISA on 29 January; exposure traced to repeated raw date palm sap consumption 5-20 January; 35 contacts identified (3 household, 14 community, 18 hospital), all tested negative as of 3 February 2026. ↗
- 2026-02-03 international Bangladesh National IHR Focal Point submitted IHR notification to WHO for the January 2026 Nipah case (Naogaon, Rajshahi Division); WHO assessed overall public health risk as low at national, regional, and global levels; One Health investigation team deployed 30 January 2026. ↗
- 2026-02-22 other Dengue surveillance dashboard operational throughout the 90-day window: IEDCR's Dengue Situation Dashboard tracks serotype distribution, case counts by district and division, and entomological indices; co-maintained with DGHS HEOC; as of DGHS Week 18 (7 May 2026) Bangladesh recorded 2,613 cumulative dengue cases and 4 deaths for 2026 year-to-date. ↗↗
- 2026-03-15 other IEDCR PHEOC maintained active epidemiological support for the 2026 measles outbreak (55,611 suspected, 7,416 confirmed, 74 confirmed deaths as of 15 May 2026); IEDCR's role in laboratory confirmation not attributed in WHO DON-598, which credits DGHS, NITAG, and District RRTs as primary responders. ↗↗
- 2026-04-15 other IEDCR-led Community-Based Surveillance (CBS) programme for urban Bangladesh conducting quarterly monitoring cycles in 2026; programme targets early warning and epidemic preparedness; implemented in partnership with IEDCR as leading organisation. ↗
Provenance & notes
Established 1976 per Wikipedia and IEDCR homepage, incorporating the former Malaria Institute of East Pakistan. Correct title is 'Institute' (not 'Directorate'); head title is 'Director' (not 'Director General'). IEDCR homepage (last updated 17 May 2026) confirms Prof Dr Tahmina Shirin, PhD as Director; Wikipedia records her appointment as 19 August 2020; no successor identified in any primary source as of verification date. Parent organisation is Health Services Division, confirmed by IEDCR homepage which lists HSD Secretary Md Kamruzzaman Chowdhury in the institutional header. Wikipedia lists 'Ministry of Health' as parent, but this is an imprecision -- operationally IEDCR reports to HSD under MoHFW. Nipah cumulative statistics: DON582 (September 2025) gives 347 cases at 71.7% CFR; DON594 (February 2026) gives 348 cases and 250 deaths at 72% CFR, reflecting the January 2026 Naogaon case. Sentinel NiV surveillance established 2006 per WHO DON582. 2025 NiV cases: 4 confirmed fatal (Pabna, Bhola, Faridpur, Naogaon; January-August 2025); three linked to raw date palm sap, fourth source under investigation; 305 contacts traced, all tested negative. 2026 NiV case: 1 confirmed fatal (Naogaon, Rajshahi Division; died 28 January 2026); 35 contacts all negative; IHR notification 3 February 2026. IEDCR not named in WHO DON-598 as a primary actor in the 2026 measles outbreak response; laboratory confirmation credited to unspecified national facilities; DGHS and NITAG are the named lead agencies for the outbreak. Staff count and budget not publicly disclosed in any available primary source. Annual budget line not separately published; IEDCR operations are funded under Health Services Division's development budget. Dengue Week-18 figure (2,613 cumulative cases, 4 deaths as of 7 May 2026) is from DGHS HEOC dashboard, which IEDCR co-supports; the specific IEDCR-attributed dengue case total for the surveillance window is not separately published.
Sources
- https://iedcr.gov.bd
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Epidemiology,_Disease_Control_and_Research
- https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2026-DON594
- https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2025-DON582
- https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2026-DON598
- https://www.who.int/bangladesh/news/detail/13-09-2025-enhancing-multisectoral-collaboration-for-food-safety-in-bangladesh-ihr-event-communication-2025
- https://dashboard.dghs.gov.bd/pages/heoc_dengue_v1.php