Bangladesh has launched emergency vaccination campaigns after a suspected measles outbreak killed at least 98 children in three weeks, marking the deadliest surge of the highly contagious disease in the country in two decades.
Health ministry data released Sunday showed 6,476 children aged six months to five years developed suspected measles symptoms during the outbreak period. Of the 826 confirmed cases, 16 deaths have been verified through testing, though health experts note many patients die before diagnostic tests can be completed.
Compared with past years, the number of affected children is higher, and the death toll is higher too
Halimur Rashid, Director at Communicable Disease Control — AFP
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman dispatched two senior ministers across the nation of 170 million people last week to assess the crisis scope and coordinate response efforts. The government has identified 30 of the most affected areas and begun targeted vaccination drives before expanding to other regions.
The outbreak represents a dramatic reversal from Bangladesh's previous measles control success. The largest recorded outbreak occurred in 2005 with 25,934 suspected cases, but numbers had declined significantly until this year's surge.
Al Jazeera frames the outbreak as a public health crisis requiring urgent international attention, emphasizing systemic healthcare failures and drawing connections to broader regional vaccination challenges. Their coverage highlights the human cost while contextualizing Bangladesh's previous vaccination successes, reflecting Qatar's position as a regional health diplomacy advocate.