Bangladesh is battling its worse measles outbreak in years, with more than 100 children dead amid a rise in unvaccinated infants.<\/p>\n
The government, in partnership with the United Nations, has begun conducting an emergency measles-rubella vaccination drive for children across the country, after more than 900 cases were confirmed since March.<\/p>\n
Measles is a highly contagious airborne disease causing fever, respiratory symptoms and a characteristic rash and can sometimes have severe or fatal complications, especially in young children.<\/p>\n
While vast gains have been made in mass immunisation against measles, there has been a recent resurgence<\/a>, attributed to falling vaccine rates, with more than 11m cases recorded globally in 2024. There was a fatal outbreak in the UK<\/a> this year, which killed two people, and states across the US have also been grappling with a deadly spread<\/a>, with more than 2,000 cases registered in 2025, the worst in three decades.<\/p>\n In Bangladesh, the rise in cases that began in March is the worst the south Asian country has experienced for years. While Bangladesh has a child immunisation programme for measles, the newly elected government<\/a> said mismanagement by the previous regimes had led to programme gaps in vulnerable areas and a shortage of the vaccine stockpiles. According to the UN, 95% of the population has to be vaccinated in order to stop the disease from spreading.<\/p>\n This month\u2019s emergency drive will focus on children aged six months to five years old in high-risk districts and will then be expanded out across the country.<\/p>\n A patient is treated at the Infectious Diseases hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh, amid a widespread measles outbreak. Photograph: Drik\/Getty<\/p>\n One-third of those affected are below the age of nine months, which is when they would usually be eligible for a measles vaccine, which experts said showed a concerning gap in the programme.<\/p>\n \u201cThis resurgence highlights critical immunity gaps, particularly among zero-dose and under-vaccinated children, while infections among infants under nine months, who are not yet eligible for routine vaccination, are especially alarming,\u201d said Rana Flowers, the representative for Unicef in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n