Dhaka: Bangladesh is battling the world’s largest measles outbreak by reported suspected cases this year, with 1147 deaths exposing the consequences of gaps in childhood vaccination and failures to reach vulnerable families.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the country recorded 202000 suspected cases between the outbreak’s start in mid March and October 9. Of these, 22000 were laboratory confirmed. Children under five accounted for 94 percent of reported deaths.
A Reuters review of WHO documents and interviews with more than a dozen scientists, health workers and officials identified weaknesses in vaccination data, emergency preparations and communication with parents. Some planning data left out millions of children.
WHO and UNICEF estimated that Bangladesh’s first dose measles vaccination coverage fell to 90 percent in 2025, while second dose coverage stood at 86 percent. Both were below the 95 percent level needed to prevent outbreaks.
The agencies also questioned official vaccination data for 2023 to 2025. Preliminary figures sometimes showed coverage exceeding 100 percent of the target population, suggesting errors in dose counts or population estimates.
In the badly affected Sylhet region, Amin Mia said health workers failed to reach his remote village before his young son, Arman Hossain, died in July. The family sold its auto rickshaw to pay for treatment. Arman’s unvaccinated four year old sister survived.
“They came only after I buried my son,” Mia said.
Another father, carpenter Humayun Rashid, lost his nine month old daughter Labiba Akter in June. She had become eligible for vaccination after an emergency programme lowered the minimum age from nine months to six, but he said nobody informed the family.
WHO vaccine adviser Mark Jit described the crisis as a warning to every country, saying prevention through vaccination was easier, cheaper and safer than containing an outbreak.
Government health adviser Ziauddin Hyder said in September that authorities were doing everything possible to end the crisis. The government did not respond to Reuters’ further questions in October.
