Twelve more children die amid worsening measles outbreak in Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s measles crisis worsened as 12 more children died, taking confirmed and suspected deaths to 451. Health experts blamed poor vaccination coverage and malnutrition, while protests erupted demanding accountability from the previous interim government over the escalating public health emergency

Dhaka: At least 12 more children died of measles and measles-like symptoms in Bangladesh, raising the total number of confirmed and suspected deaths to 451, as the country grapples with a worsening health crisis, according to local media reports.

According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), the deaths were reported in the 24 hours leading up to Friday morning. Among the 12 deaths, four were confirmed measles cases, while the remaining eight children died with symptoms of the disease, Bangladesh’s leading newspaper, The Daily Star reported.

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Of the confirmed fatalities, two were reported from the Dhaka division and one each from the Chattogram and Barisal divisions. Additionally, the suspected deaths include three each from the Dhaka and Chattogram divisions and one each from the Mymensingh and Sylhet divisions.

The DGHS recorded 111 new confirmed measles cases during the same period. Reports suggest that 1,192 patients visited hospitals with symptoms, resulting in the admission of 1,016 people.

Amid the rapid spread of the infection, health experts have called on the government to prioritise the ongoing measles vaccination campaign and set up fever corners at local health complexes to facilitate early detection of diseases such as measles and pneumonia.

The appeal was made during a joint press conference organised by the Bangladesh Lung Foundation and the Chest and Heart Association of Bangladesh in Dhaka, The Daily Star reported.

According to health experts, inadequate vaccination coverage last year, along with malnutrition, has played a major role in worsening the outbreak.

On Wednesday, a group of protestors under the banner of ‘Socheton Nagorik Samaj’ reportedly formed a human chain in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi 27 area, calling for the trial of the former interim government’s chief advisor Muhammad Yunus and his health advisor Nurjahan Begum over the measles-related deaths, along with compensation for the victims’ families.

As measles has killed more than 400 individuals since mid-March across Bangladesh, a recent report described the outbreak as an “avoidable disaster” and called for accountability from the previous interim government led by Yunus, who dismantled a functional vaccine procurement system without the capacity to rebuild it.

“The country’s measles vaccination coverage rose steadily for two decades, becoming an international model for low-income countries. That record has now been squandered with shocking negligence by the past interim government,” an editorial report in The Daily Star stated.