More than 1,000 children dead in Bangladesh measles outbreak

More than 1,000 children have died in a measles outbreak in Bangladesh, where cases are rising again despite an emergency vaccination campaign.

More than 19.8 million children in the country have already been vaccinated, but some 1,000 new suspected cases are still being reported every day.

Unicef told the BBC that on 26 September, the government will move into an "intensified phase" of its campaign to reach children who have not yet been vaccinated.

Until March this year, Bangladesh had made "substantial progress" towards eliminating measles, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). But WHO data now shows it has had more measles cases than any other country so far this year.

The latest government figures show there have been more than 194,000 cases since March from the highly contagious disease, which spreads easily through breathing, coughing or sneezing.

On Tuesday alone, a eight more people died with suspected measles.

Measles in the South Asian nation of 178 million people surged in March this year, with Unicef calling the initial outbreak a "perform storm" of several factors, including an overcrowded population and the Covid pandemic having delayed routine immunisation.

The UN agency had earlier claimed that the government of Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh's former interim leader, had delayed ordering vaccines last year, leading to shortages.

Bangladesh has seen years of political turmoil, with student-led protests in 2024 toppling the country's authoritarian leader, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Unicef claims the interim government that succeeded her delayed vaccine orders to consider new vendors, despite warnings of the risks involved.

"We were worried about possible [vaccine] gaps increasing, and it's unfolding into what we're now seeing," Miguel Mateos Muñoz, a Unicef spokesperson, had told the BBC in June.

However, Yunus's former top health ministry official had denied any shortage of vaccines.

The continued deaths show the initial emergency campaign was inadequate, public health expert Dr Mushtuq Husain told the BBC.

He said it left too many children unprotected and should have reached more regions and age-groups.

"There are no shortcuts when it comes to a response," he said. "The government made the right decision to jump into action. But the health workers needed to go door-to-door to make people aware of the urgency."

The WHO insists the campaign was a success but acknowledges "some target children were not reached by vaccination activities".

"The outbreak spread nationwide before vaccination activities were implemented, creating extensive transmission chains that take time to fully interrupt," the WHO said in a statement to the BBC.

Most cases are among unvaccinated children, with about 83% of confirmed measles cases occurring among those who were unvaccinated, and 10% among infants under six months old, and therefore "highly vulnerable during outbreaks," according to the WHO.

Malnutrition leaves people particularly vulnerable and more likely to develop serious complications or die from measles.

Bangladesh is also particularly vulnerable during an outbreak, because child malnutrition can increase the risk of serious complications and death from measles.

Hospitals have been left overwhelmed by the outbreak.

When the BBC visited some in June, dozens of families were seen lying on blankets on the floor, and one hospital said it was operating at more than double its capacity.

Back then, the health minister had acknowledged the strain on the health system but said this was to be expected, given the country's population of more than 170 million people, and that the government had "met the challenge already", with the number of cases coming down.

Since then, 300 more children have died.

Globally, Bangladesh is not the only country seeing an outbreak this year, though not all of them of this severity.

The United Kingdom was considered to have eliminated the disease altogether but lost that status this year.

The United States has also seen a rise in measles cases in recent years, and children under five in both countries fall short of the 95% vaccination threshold needed for herd immunity.

Additional reporting by Sardar Ronie