Bangladesh Measles Crisis: Over 1,000 Children Dead as Vaccination Gaps Fuel Deadliest Outbreak in Decades
In Bangladesh, over 1,000 children have already lost their lives to measles since March, with millions of children still at risk from the highly contagious disease due to a lack of vaccines.
The outbreak is the deadliest in decades in the country, with 1,002 children killed and 187,484 infections reported, health officials said Wednesday. Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has released the figures.
The mass vaccination campaign missed about four million children, officials said, meaning communities were not achieving the level of immunisation required to reduce the spread of the disease.
Over 18 million children have since been vaccinated, and health workers were still looking for those who had not been vaccinated, Zahid Raihan, a spokesman for the Directorate of General Health Services (DGHS), said.
Measles is highly contagious and can lead to complications such as difficulty breathing and swelling of the brain. Young children are particularly at risk for serious illness.
Malnutrition has also been identified as a risk factor for the outbreak, as it can exacerbate its effects, and there is a need for wider support for children than just vaccination.
The crisis is adding to the strain on Bangladesh’s health care system, which is also facing an increase in dengue cases. Since January, 45,475 dengue cases and 130 deaths have been reported.
The health ministry is encouraging families and communities to help with vaccination drives and continue with measures that can help to curb the transmission of vaccine-preventable diseases among children.
