Bangladesh measles crisis kills more than 1,000 children

Children receive treatment for measles at Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on September 8, 2026. Bangladesh is facing its worst measles outbreak in decades.[File]

The death toll from a measles outbreak in Bangladesh has topped 1,000 children since March, health officials said Wednesday, admitting failures in a vaccination drive that could have saved lives.

The South Asian nation of 170 million has recorded 1,002 deaths and 187,484 infections among children, making this year's outbreak the country's deadliest in decades, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Measles is highly contagious, spreading through coughs and sneezes, and has no specific treatment once caught.

Complications can include brain swelling and severe breathing problems. Although anyone can catch the disease, young children are particularly vulnerable.

The disease has kept spreading in Bangladesh even as health authorities rolled out a mass vaccination drive to combat the outbreak.

DGHS spokesman Zahid Raihan said more than 18 million children had been vaccinated so far, and teams were searching for those who had missed inoculations.

"We couldn't achieve herd immunity," Raihan told AFP.

Official figures show that around four million children were left out of the campaign, leaving pockets of vulnerability that experts say have fuelled the outbreak.

"Measles cannot be eradicated and the aim was to reduce casualties. We will keep vaccinating our children," Raihan said.

Controlling the outbreak, however, required more than vaccinations, Raihan said, pointing to the need to tackle chronic malnutrition among children -- a factor that can worsen the disease's impact.

The mounting measles crisis is also stretching an already burdened healthcare system as authorities grapple with a simultaneous surge in dengue fever cases.

"Hospitals with the capacity to handle 50 dengue patients are now dealing with 500," Raihan said.

Nine people died from dengue on Tuesday alone, while 1,571 patients were admitted to hospitals, according to health department data.

Since January, Bangladesh has recorded 45,475 dengue cases and 130 deaths. In 2023, there were 321,017 cases of the mosquito-borne disease -- the highest figure recorded in the country.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is scheduled to inaugurate a three-month nationwide anti-dengue campaign on Saturday.