Bangladesh has launched an emergency vaccination campaign after a fast-spreading measles outbreak is suspected of killing more than 100 people, mostly children, in what may be the country's most lethal wave of the disease in recent history.
The campaign, which began on Sunday, comes amid more than 7,500 suspected measles cases since 15 March, according to health ministry data.
More than 900 of these cases have been confirmed—a sharp increase from 2025, when just 125 measles cases were recorded over the entire year, local media report.
While Bangladesh has long vaccinated children against the highly contagious disease, the recent outbreak has exposed gaps in its programme, raising concern.
Vaccines are foundational to child survival, Rana Flowers, the Unicef representative in Bangladesh, said in a statement on Sunday, adding that the current measles outbreak was putting thousands of children, especially the youngest and most vulnerable, at serious risk.
Why is there a spike in measles in Bangladesh?
In Bangladesh, a nation of 170 million people, routine measles vaccines are given to children as young as nine months old. But Shahriar Sajjad, deputy director of the Health Department, told BBC Bangla that about one-third of those infected in the recent outbreak were under nine months old.
The infections of these young infants who are not yet eligible for routine vaccination, are especially alarming, said Flowers from Unicef.
On top of routine vaccinations, Bangladesh conducts special measles vaccination campaigns every four years, but these campaigns haven't gone according to plan.
There have been no special measles vaccination campaigns since 2020, first because of Covid and then because of the political situation, Sajjad told BBC Bangla. Bangladesh experienced political upheaval in 2024, when massive anti-government protests toppled its long-ruling leader Sheikh Hasina.
A measles vaccination campaign was supposed to be held in April this year, but it did not happen, Sajjad said. A health official noted that procurement issues have led to a shortage of vaccines, including for measles. Many in Bangladesh blame the vaccine shortages on the former interim government, which oversaw a new vaccine procurement system.
But measles resurgences are typically the result of these accumulated gaps rather than a single factor, Unicef said in its statement. Bangladesh has a strong history of high immunisation coverage, but even small disruptions can lead to the gradual accumulation of immunity gaps over time.
What is Bangladesh doing about the outbreak?
Along with international partners like Unicef and the World Health Organization (WHO), Bangladesh has launched an emergency vaccination campaign for measles and rubella. This campaign, which started recently, aims to target over 1.2 million children between six months and five years old.
The campaign will prioritize children who have missed routine immunisation and are most vulnerable to severe illness and complications, according to Unicef. There will also be particular focus on Dhaka, the densely populated capital, and Cox's Bazar, home to crowded Rohingya refugee camps.
Understanding Measles
Measles is a highly contagious airborne disease that can lead to severe complications and death. Common symptoms include high fever, sore red and watery eyes, coughing, and sneezing. An estimated 95,000 people were killed by measles worldwide in 2024, most of them children under five years old.
Measles can be prevented through vaccination; however, according to the WHO, 95% of the population must be vaccinated to stop the disease from spreading. Over the past two decades, the number of global measles cases and deaths has fallen sharply. However, in 2024 and 2025, the world saw the highest number of measles outbreaks in over 20 years.
