Reuters investigation: Bangladesh measles outbreak a 'real warning to every country'

A Reuters investigation published on 17 October has found that Bangladesh is battling the worst measles outbreak in the world, a crisis made deadlier by falling vaccination coverage, weak health data and inadequate outreach to parents.

From mid-March to 9 October, Bangladesh reported 202,000 suspected measles cases — 22,000 of them laboratory-confirmed — the World Health Organization said, more suspected cases than any other country this year. The disease has killed 1,147 people, with 94 per cent of reported deaths among children under five.

Bangladesh nearly reached the 95 per cent vaccination coverage the WHO says is needed to prevent outbreaks, but in 2025 coverage dropped below that level. A Reuters review of WHO documents, alongside interviews with more than a dozen scientists, health workers and officials, found the emergency response was hampered by data that left out millions of children, poor preparation and a failure to reach enough parents.

“This is a real warning to every country,” said Mark Jit, a WHO vaccine adviser and professor at the School of Global Public Health at New York University, adding that preventing an outbreak through vaccination is easier, cheaper and safer than responding to an emergency.

Ziauddin Hyder, special assistant on health affairs to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, told Reuters in September that the government was doing everything it could to end the outbreak. The government did not respond to further questions sent in October for the article.

A separate Reuters report on 26 September noted that Bangladesh had launched a nationwide measles-rubella campaign targeting 3.4 million unvaccinated children, after authorities lowered the minimum vaccination age from nine months to six months because of the outbreak.