World News for Students of English

21-10-2026 07:00

Bangladesh is currently facing the world’s worst measles outbreak. 200,000 suspected cases and more than 1,140 deaths have been reported since mid-March 2026. Most of the victims are young children under five.

The crisis began after political protests in 2025 ended decades of leadership, which caused strikes, delayed vaccine orders, and a drop in national immunization coverage below the required 95% threshold for herd immunity. Although the government launched a massive emergency vaccination campaign reaching millions of children, internal documents show the response was hampered by weak data, rushed preparation, and severe rural gaps that missed millions of vulnerable youngsters. In remote regions, many grieving parents reported that health workers arrived too late.

Experts warn that the outbreak serves as a critical global lesson on the dangers of declining vaccination rates, and urge nations to maintain strong routine healthcare systems to protect children from preventable diseases.

Difficult words: immunization coverage (the percentage of a population that has received a specific vaccine to protect against a disease), herd immunity (indirect protection from an infectious disease when a large enough percentage of a population has become immune), hamper (to make an action or process difficult or slow down progress).

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