Bangladesh is trying to contain a measles outbreak, as weak data, inadequate outreach and vaccination gaps worsen the crisis.
The World Health Organisation(WHO) said Bangladesh, whose routine vaccination programme faltered in 2025, reported 202,000 suspected measles cases 22,000 of them laboratory confirmed since the start of the outbreak in mid-March to October 9, which has more suspected cases than any other country this year.
The WHO said 1,147 people have died of the contagious disease, with 94% of reported deaths among children under five years old.
Reports say Bangladesh’s emergency response was hampered by data that excluded millions of children, inadequate preparedness and failures to reach enough parents.
READ ALSO: Bangladesh Faces Worst-Ever Measles Outbreak
A WHO vaccine adviser and professor at the School of Global Public Health at New York University Mark Jit said “this is a real warning to every country.”
Preventing an outbreak through vaccinations was easier, cheaper and safer than responding to an emergency, Mark said.
“The response will stop the outbreak eventually, but in the meantime, many will have had measles, and some will have died,” he added.
Bangladesh’s Special Assistant on Health Affairs to the Prime Minister, Ziauddin Hyder, said in September that the government was doing everything it could to end the outbreak.
Reuters
