“A man-made tragedy”: 113 children perish in Bangladesh as measles surge reveals Yunus government’s breakdown

Sanjoy Kumar Barua

At least 113 children have died in Bangladesh in the past 22 days amid a rapidly escalating measles outbreak, with officials attributing the surge to critical failures by the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, including missed vaccination campaigns, disrupted routine immunisation, and the cancellation of key health programmes.

A total of 7,610 children have been hospitalised with suspected measles nationwide during this period, according to data released on Sunday by the Directorate General of Health Services.

Of those, 929 cases have been laboratory-confirmed. In the last 24 hours alone, authorities recorded 974 new suspected infections and 10 additional deaths, underscoring the speed and severity of the outbreak.

Health officials say the crisis is closely linked to the government’s failure to implement the scheduled national measles vaccination campaign in 2024.

The campaign, conducted every four years, is designed to immunise children aged nine months to ten years within days, rapidly closing immunity gaps.

The last such campaign took place in December 2020, following an earlier round in 2016. However, the 2024 campaign was not carried out, nor was it implemented in 2025.

“The national campaign ensures near-universal coverage within days. Its absence is a central reason behind the current outbreak,” said Professor Dr Md Zahid Raihan, Additional Director (Administration) at the health directorate.

Routine immunisation services, the second pillar of measles control, were also severely disrupted.

Delivered through approximately 120,000 vaccination centres, the programme typically provides the first dose at nine months and a second at 15 months. But amid protests by health workers, coverage fell to just 59 percent—well below the 92 percent threshold required to maintain herd immunity.

“When coverage drops below 92 percent, measles quickly spreads beyond control,” Raihan said. “A large number of children remained unvaccinated.”

The situation was further compounded by the cancellation of 17 Operational Plans within the health sector, which officials say disrupted programme implementation, coordination, and resource allocation at multiple levels.

Efforts to contact former Health Adviser Nur Jahan Begum for comment were unsuccessful.

In Dhaka, frustration and grief are increasingly spilling into public anger. At a crowded govt. hospital, one father whose two-year-old daughter is undergoing treatment said the crisis reflects a profound failure of leadership.

“My child is fighting for her life because the system collapsed,” he said. “Where was the government when these vaccines were supposed to be given? This is not just negligence—it is abandonment.”

Another mother in the capital, cradling her feverish infant, spoke with visible anguish. “We trusted the health system. Now we are paying the price. If the campaign had been done on time, our children would not be suffering like this,” she said.

“Those in power must answer for this.”

In Rajshahi division, where the highest number of deaths in a single reporting period has been recorded, anger has hardened into outright condemnation.

A local schoolteacher who lost his nephew to suspected measles described the outbreak as “a man-made disaster.”

“This did not have to happen,” he said. “They knew the campaign was due. They knew the risks. Yet they did nothing. How many more children must die before someone is held accountable?”

Another resident in the affected area was more direct in assigning blame. “The government failed at every level—from planning to execution,” he said. “We are witnessing the consequences in the most painful way possible.”

The outbreak has affected all regions of the country, with Dhaka division reporting the highest number of infections—3,259 suspected cases, including 468 confirmed.

However, the death toll has been particularly severe in Rajshahi, highlighting disparities in healthcare access and response capacity.

Experts caution that the official figures may understate the true scale of the crisis. Of the 113 reported deaths, only 17 have been laboratory-confirmed as caused by measles, indicating gaps in diagnostic capacity and possible underreporting.

Measles, one of the most contagious viral diseases, spreads rapidly in populations with insufficient immunisation coverage. While preventable through vaccination, it remains a significant cause of child mortality when public health systems weaken.

Bangladesh had long been regarded as a success story in immunisation, achieving high coverage rates and sharply reducing measles incidence over the past decades.

The current resurgence, however, threatens to reverse those gains, raising urgent questions about governance and accountability under the interim administration.

As infections continue to rise, pressure is mounting on authorities to act decisively.

Public health experts warn that without immediate corrective measures—including restoring routine immunisation and launching an emergency nationwide campaign—the outbreak could worsen further, placing thousands more children at risk in the weeks ahead.