Ottawa, Aug 7 (IANS) As Bangladesh witnesses a sharp rise in measles cases, a leading international advocacy group has described the 2026 outbreak as one of the country’s worst public health crises in recent history, highlighting the concern that the disease is preventable through vaccination.
In its latest report titled ‘Preventable Tragedy: Bangladesh’s 2026 Measles Outbreak’, Canada-based ‘Global Centre for Democratic Governance (GCDG) said that although the measles outbreak appeared sudden to the public, it was not an unexpected event from an “epidemiological perspective”.
The report noted that the crisis resulted from a combination of disruptions to vaccine supply and health programs in 2024- 2025 during the period of the former interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, along with missed routine vaccinations, cancellations of scheduled supplementary immunisation programs, administrative delays in vaccine procurement, and a failure to promptly identify at-risk populations.
According to GCDG, Bangladesh had long procured WHO-approved vaccines through the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)’s international supply chain; however, the interim government replaced this system with an open tender procurement process. Citing UNICEF, the report said the agency repeatedly warned the interim government of a potential vaccine shortage through five to six formal letters and around 10 meetings held between 2024 and 2026.
“Bangladesh’s routine immunisation program requires about 70 million doses of various vaccines annually, but only 17.8 million doses of vaccines were procured with UNICEF’s advance funding between August and November 2025. UNICEF said that despite the allocation of funds, it was not possible to procure vaccines on time due to indecision over the procurement method and the lengthy open tender process,” the GCDG findings highlighted.
Referring to Expanded Program on Immunisation (EPI) data reported by Bangladeshi daily Samakal, the GCDG noted that measles vaccination coverage fell to 56.2 per cent in 2025, the lowest level recorded between 2017 and 2025.
It added that WHO later identified the nationwide stock-out of the measles-rubella (MR) vaccine in Bangladesh during 2024-2025 and the lack of regular vaccination as the main contributors to the decline in immunity among children and the 2026 outbreak
“Overall, the nationwide spread of measles resulted from a combination of administrative and health-system failures, including the programmatic vacuum created under the interim government; disruptions in vaccine procurement, transportation, and supply; vaccine stock-outs and canceled EPI sessions; declining MR1 and MR2 coverage; an increasing number of children missing scheduled vaccinations; the absence of supplementary immunization programs; and the current government’s inadequate and inefficient medical response,” the GCDG stated.
The organisation further said that the current Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government failed to respond swiftly to “known and measurable risks” after coming to power earlier this year.
Despite warnings about hospital overcrowding, isolation, and referral gaps in early April, it said, equipment procurement, the establishment of temporary isolation units, the deployment of human resources, and the formulation of standard treatment protocols continued until late May.
Criticising the lack of transparency, the GCDG described “information opacity” as a distinct and serious failure of the current government’s medical response during the measles outbreak.
–IANS
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