People in the country are now dying from measles. More than fifty children have died. The infection has spread across fifty-six districts. Even the World Health Organization has issued a written statement expressing concern over this silent epidemic. And what was happening in the country at that time? Politics. Power calculations. Efforts to maintain control.
During the Yunus government, the country’s routine immunization program effectively collapsed. This cannot be explained away by COVID, because the pandemic ended long ago. Over the past two years, millions of children did not receive measles vaccinations. That gap is now returning in the form of deaths. If a government had even a minimum sense of responsibility, it would not have allowed such a gap to emerge—or, once it did, it would have quickly identified the crisis and taken emergency action. None of that happened.
Now the BNP is in power—since February. Nearly two months have passed. Measles is spreading, people are dying, and what is visible from the new government is silence. Where is the emergency vaccination campaign? Where is the declaration of a national-level crisis? Where is the health minister addressing the public? The World Health Organization has clearly stated that all children aged six months to five years must be vaccinated urgently. Has that campaign even begun?
[Measles in 56 Districts — Where Is the Government?]
An unusual pattern seems to have taken hold in this country: governments change, but indifference toward ordinary people’s lives does not. The Yunus administration governed with its own agenda, and public health was clearly not a priority—that is now evident. And since coming to power, the BNP has yet to demonstrate that it is any different. A potential epidemic is at the doorstep, yet the government appears preoccupied with other concerns.
Perhaps the most painful reality is the age of those affected. Infants under nine months account for thirty-four percent of the cases. These children were born, they wanted a chance to live, yet the state could not even ensure something as basic as a timely vaccine. This failure is not a natural disaster—it is entirely a result of state negligence.
