Measles Outbreak Sickens Thousands of Children in Bangladesh

By early 2026, Bangladesh — a country once celebrated for raising full childhood immunization from 2% to over 80% in four decades — found itself in the grip of its worst measles outbreak in more than a decade. Between March 15 and April 29, the WHO recorded 35,980 suspected cases and 4,944 laboratory-confirmed cases across 61 of 64 districts, with 227 suspected measles-related deaths [1]. By early May, those figures had climbed past 45,000 suspected cases and more than 400 deaths [2][3].

The outbreak is not a story about a novel pathogen or an unavoidable surge. It is the result of a chain of institutional failures — vaccine procurement delays, political disruption, staffing shortages, and missed preventive campaigns — that left millions of children without protection against one of the most contagious diseases known to medicine.

The Geography of the Outbreak

The virus has spread across all eight of Bangladesh's administrative divisions, but the burden is concentrated in densely populated areas with weak health infrastructure.

Source: WHO Disease Outbreak News

Data as of Apr 29, 2026CSV

Dhaka division alone accounts for 13,685 suspected cases, with clusters in the capital's informal settlements — Demra, Korail, and Mirpur — where overcrowding and limited health access have long been documented problems [4]. Rajshahi division recorded 5,832 cases, followed by Chattogram with 4,065 and Khulna with 2,337 [1]. Within Dhaka, the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Mohakhali admitted 560 suspected measles patients in the first three months of 2026, compared with 69 for the entirety of the previous year [1].

Who Is Getting Sick — and Who Is Dying

Children under five account for 79% of reported cases. Infants under nine months — too young to have completed their vaccination schedule — represent 33% of all cases [1]. Among confirmed cases, 74% of patients were unvaccinated and 14% had received only one dose [3].

The mortality profile is concentrated among the youngest and most malnourished. An analysis of 66 deaths across three Dhaka hospitals found that post-measles pneumonia and malnutrition accounted for nearly 90% of child deaths [5]. Half of the children who died were aged seven to ten months; 18% were infants under six months [5].

One-third of fatalities occurred within 24 hours of hospital admission, and 40% within 72 hours — indicating that many children arrived in advanced stages of illness after visiting multiple facilities without receiving adequate care [5]. Dr. FA Asma Khan, a physician involved in the hospital response, observed that "nearly all admitted children have severe pneumonia alongside measles," with many arriving in critical condition [5].

Malnutrition is a central factor. Approximately 24% of Bangladeshi children under five are stunted, and 10% suffer from wasting [4]. Malnourished children mount weaker immune responses, turning manageable infections into life-threatening ones. The crisis has been compounded by Bangladesh missing three of its biannual vitamin A distribution campaigns since 2024 [6]. WHO evidence shows timely vitamin A supplementation can reduce measles death risk by up to 50% in populations where deficiency is common [6].

The Vaccination Breakdown

Bangladesh's measles-rubella first-dose (MR1) coverage had been a public health success story, reaching 100% in 2023 according to government figures. But that progress masked growing fragility.

Source: WHO/UNICEF Estimates & Bangladesh DGHS

Data as of Apr 29, 2026CSV

MR1 coverage dropped to an estimated 93% in 2025, and MR2 coverage fell from 96% to 91% [1][7]. These national averages obscure sharper declines at the district level. The government health minister acknowledged that only 81% of children were fully vaccinated against measles nationwide, and in some districts, coverage fell well below the 95% threshold required for herd immunity [7].

The proximate cause of the coverage collapse was a nationwide stockout of measles-rubella vaccine between 2024 and 2025. The roots of that stockout trace to a policy decision made by the interim government that took power after the July 2024 political upheaval. In September 2024, the new administration shifted vaccine procurement strategy, moving from sole procurement through UNICEF to a split model — 50% through UNICEF and 50% through open tender [3][8].

UNICEF Representative Rana Flowers publicly warned against the change. "For God's sake … don't do this," she said, according to reporting by The Daily Star [3]. UNICEF had warned the interim government at least 10 times about the looming vaccine shortage since 2024 [8]. The open tender process became mired in bureaucratic delays. Approvals that previously required one cabinet committee now required two. Six vaccine types were exhausted by March 2026; the country had previously maintained a three-month buffer stock [3].

A supplementary measles-rubella immunization campaign, originally planned for 2024, was postponed due to political unrest and then canceled outright [1][9]. No nationwide measles vaccination campaign had been conducted since 2020, when COVID-19 disrupted routine immunization globally [1].

Staffing Gaps and System Erosion

The vaccine stockout occurred against a backdrop of broader institutional decay. Nearly 45% of field-level Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) positions remained unfilled across 37 districts, affecting services at approximately 150,000 vaccination centers [8][10].

The interim government compounded the problem by scrapping the Health, Population, and Nutrition Sector Programme (HPNSP) in March 2025, folding its operations into regular government budgets [3]. This created supply disruptions for vaccines and medicines across 14,000 community clinics. Line directors and program managers were removed, leaving at one point only three officials at the EPI headquarters [3].

Workers responsible for maintaining the cold chain — the temperature-controlled supply system essential for vaccine viability — faced delayed payments, leading to strikes and work stoppages [10]. Without a real-time tracking mechanism at district and sub-district levels, some areas accumulated surplus vaccine stock while others ran dry [10].

Prof. Be-Nazir Ahmed, a public health expert, assessed: "Their failure to ensure proper vaccination meant herd immunity or collective protection was not achieved" [3].

Historical Context: How Far Bangladesh Has Fallen

The current outbreak represents a sharp reversal. After nationwide supplementary immunization campaigns in 2005–2006, 2010, and 2014 — during which approximately 108.9 million children were vaccinated — confirmed measles cases fell from 14,877 in 2005 to just 66 in 2010 [11]. Cases rebounded to 5,329 in 2011 before the introduction of routine MCV2 in 2012 and a 2014 catch-up campaign brought them back down to 250 by 2015 [11].

Annual reported measles incidence declined 84% between 2000 and 2016, from 40.0 to 6.0 per million population [11]. The 2026 outbreak has erased more than a decade of those gains. With over 45,000 suspected cases in under three months, this outbreak already dwarfs any single year in the 2012–2014 period [2][3].

Fatality Rate in International Perspective

Bangladesh's case fatality rate of approximately 0.95% among confirmed cases places it in line with other major outbreaks in similarly resourced countries, though structural differences in health systems produce varying outcomes.

Source: WHO, Lancet, national health authorities

Data as of May 1, 2026CSV

Yemen, which has experienced prolonged conflict-driven health system collapse, reported a comparable CFR of approximately 0.9% during its 2025 measles surge, with 23,817 confirmed cases and 214 deaths [12]. The Democratic Republic of Congo, where armed conflict has devastated health infrastructure across multiple provinces, recorded a higher CFR of approximately 2.1% during its 2024–2025 outbreak [13]. Pakistan reported a lower CFR of approximately 0.6% in 2024, with 7,148 cases [13].

The differences are instructive. DRC's higher fatality rate reflects extreme disruption of clinical services in conflict zones. Bangladesh, despite having stronger baseline health infrastructure than Yemen or DRC, saw its fatality rate elevated by the convergence of malnutrition, missed vitamin A campaigns, and hospital overcrowding that delayed treatment [4][5].

The Rohingya Camps: A Crisis Within a Crisis

Cox's Bazar district, home to nearly one million Rohingya refugees living in overcrowded camps with limited health access, faced acute risk of rapid transmission [14]. The International Rescue Committee launched an emergency vaccination campaign targeting approximately 20,000 children aged six months to five years across five IRC-supported camps [14].

By mid-May, a mass vaccination drive had reached more than 166,000 children in the camps, achieving 93.7% coverage among the target population [15]. The rapid response in the camps — organized in coordination with the government, WHO, and UNICEF — stands in contrast to the slower rollout in many mainland districts, where staffing shortages and supply chain problems hampered coverage.

The Government Response

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare approved an emergency measles-rubella vaccination campaign on March 30, 2026, and launched it on April 5 — targeting children aged six months to five years regardless of prior vaccination status [1][9]. The initial phase covered 30 high-risk sub-districts (upazilas) across 18 districts, with support from UNICEF, WHO, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance [9].

On April 20, the campaign was expanded nationwide [9]. By April 18, more than 1.49 million children had been vaccinated in the initial phase, against a target of 2.4 million [1]. The government has not publicly disclosed the total projected cost of the containment campaign or how it compares to what was budgeted for routine immunization.

Critics argue the response came too late. The outbreak had been building since late 2025, and measles cases were rising through January and February 2026 before the emergency was formally acknowledged in early April [3][10].

Vaccine Hesitancy vs. Institutional Failure

Some coverage of the outbreak has highlighted vaccine hesitancy, including religious objections and social media misinformation, as drivers of coverage gaps [10]. Misinformation about vaccines has made some parents more reluctant, particularly in rural areas.

But the evidence points more strongly to institutional and supply-side failures as the primary cause. Among confirmed cases, nearly three-quarters of patients had not received even a single dose — a pattern more consistent with lack of access than with parental refusal [3][4]. The nationwide vaccine stockout, the 45% vacancy rate in EPI field positions, and the cancellation of supplementary campaigns are structural problems that would have depressed coverage regardless of parental attitudes.

As one analysis in The Financial Express argued: "Children are dying today not because measles cannot be controlled, but because vulnerabilities were allowed to build" [4].

Did Vertical Campaigns Crowd Out Routine Immunization?

A longstanding critique in global health holds that vertical disease campaigns — focused programs targeting polio, COVID-19, or other specific diseases — divert funding and personnel from routine immunization infrastructure. Bangladesh offers a partial test of this hypothesis.

COVID-19 vaccination efforts absorbed significant resources. The European Investment Bank provided €250 million for COVID-19 immunization in Bangladesh [16]. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative's strategic plan called for at least 50% of GPEI-funded personnel time to be dedicated to strengthening broader immunization systems [17].

Bangladesh's EPI has received substantial international support. IFFIm funds totaling $135.5 million have been directed to Bangladesh since 2021 [16]. The World Bank's Health Sector Support Project, approved in 2017, provided $550 million in IDA financing, supplemented by $15 million from the Global Financing Facility and $120.3 million from a multi-donor trust fund [16].

Yet the evidence suggests the current crisis stems less from funding diversion than from domestic governance failures. The vaccine stockout was caused by a procurement policy change, not by a lack of money. The staffing vacancies predated the outbreak. The cancellation of the 2024 supplementary campaign was a political decision, not a resource constraint. International donors, particularly UNICEF, repeatedly warned the government about the consequences of its decisions [3][8].

The global immunization architecture did experience significant COVID-related disruption — UNICEF reported approximately 25 million children missed routine vaccinations worldwide in 2021 alone [4][17]. But in Bangladesh's case, the 2026 outbreak is more directly traceable to decisions made after the 2024 political transition than to structural crowding-out by vertical campaigns.

The Broader Picture: Infant Mortality and Health System Capacity

Bangladesh's baseline health indicators provide context for the outbreak's severity. The country's infant mortality rate, while having declined significantly over decades, remains high compared to wealthier nations — a reflection of the fragile health infrastructure that measles is now stressing.

Source: WHO Global Health Observatory

Data as of Dec 31, 2023CSV

The WHO assessed the overall risk of the outbreak as "high at the national level" given the combination of declining vaccination coverage, population density, malnutrition, and health system capacity constraints [1].

What Comes Next

The immediate priority is completing the nationwide vaccination campaign and reaching the estimated 5 million children who were not fully immunized in 2025, including 70,000 with zero doses and more than 400,000 who were under-immunized [6]. Restoring the vaccine supply chain, filling EPI staffing vacancies, and resuming vitamin A supplementation campaigns are preconditions for preventing recurrence.

The outbreak has exposed how quickly immunization gains can unravel when political instability intersects with institutional neglect. Bangladesh spent decades building one of the developing world's most successful vaccination programs. Rebuilding the trust, infrastructure, and staffing that have been damaged will take longer than any emergency campaign can deliver.