Adre, Chad — A dual outbreak of measles and meningitis is sweeping through eastern Chad, where close to one million Sudanese refugees have arrived since Sudan’s civil war erupted in April 2023. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned on Thursday that the scale of the outbreak is overwhelming already stretched health facilities in the border town of Adre.
In Adre, measles cases surged from just 16 in January to 371 in March, with a further 161 cases recorded in the first two weeks of April alone. Meningitis cases rose from 18 in January to 109 in March and 101 by mid-April. Bed occupancy for meningitis patients is now approaching 100%, MSF said, fully saturating available capacity.
“Every day, we see children arriving with severe measles, often complicated by pneumonia, requiring urgent hospitalisation,” said MSF’s Isabelle Kavira. “The situation in the camps is beyond critical.”
Overcrowding and Failing Health Infrastructure
Chad closed its border with Sudan in February following incursions from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), but the frontier remains porous. Refugees continue to cross in small groups, bringing with them active outbreaks from Sudan where both measles and meningitis are endemic. Overcrowding in camps, limited access to clean water, and chronic malnutrition among children under five create ideal conditions for rapid transmission.
The United Nations estimates that nearly one million people have fled Sudan into Chad since the war began. Many are women and children who have walked for days with minimal supplies. Chad’s health system — already under-resourced — was not equipped to handle a crisis of this magnitude when the influx began over two years ago.
Disruptions in vaccine refrigeration chains and gaps in routine immunisation programmes have left entire populations vulnerable. Chad’s health ministry, with MSF support, has vaccinated over 95,500 children against measles and 337,800 people against meningitis in emergency campaigns — but MSF says reactive campaigns alone are insufficient to contain the spread.
A Region Under Strain
The outbreak comes as Chad’s government announced it would deploy troops to Haiti as part of a multinational security mission aimed at tackling gang violence there. While the deployment reflects Chad’s growing international role, critics note it diverts resources from domestic humanitarian crises at home.
Regional analysts say the convergence of Sudan’s civil war, mass displacement, and overlapping disease outbreaks represents a slow-motion catastrophe that has received limited international attention. Funding for humanitarian operations in Chad has fallen sharply short of what is required, leaving aid organisations unable to scale up adequately.
Without urgent reinforcement of vaccination campaigns and improvements in living conditions in the camps, MSF warns the outbreaks could spread further — both within eastern Chad and potentially across the border into Sudan itself, where the health system has collapsed under the weight of war.