Dhaka (GNP): Bangladesh is facing its deadliest measles outbreak in decades, with the death toll among children nearing 1,000 as hospital wards across the country fill beyond capacity. At least 986 children have died since March, while suspected and confirmed cases have surged past 180,000, according to the latest health ministry figures, with more than 1,000 new suspected cases being reported daily despite an ongoing mass vaccination drive.
The scale of the crisis is visible at Dhaka’s Shishu Hospital, where measles wards are packed with struggling infants and the sound of oxygen machines runs alongside the cries of sick children. Rima Akter, whose nine-month-old son is being treated there, described watching two children die in a single day, one of them wheeled past her only an hour earlier. Her son was first admitted for bronchitis before later being readmitted with measles, a pattern that reflects how quickly the disease has spread through the country’s youngest population.
That vulnerability is echoed in the experience of Sanjana Islam Modina, whose six-month-old son Ayan has spent weeks moving between hospitals since July. Ayan was first treated for pneumonia before contracting measles and finally securing a bed at the capital’s specialised children’s hospital in mid-August, where he spent 15 days in intensive care before being moved to the dedicated measles ward. His lungs, already weakened by pneumonia, have made his recovery from measles more difficult, and he has remained on oxygen continuously for the past five days.
Most cases in the current outbreak have occurred among children between six months and five years old, and doctors say many arrive at hospital already critically ill, with malnutrition further reducing their ability to fight the virus. Ayan has also been diagnosed as malnourished and is now being given specialised milk formulated for malnourished children, a treatment his mother says is part of his ongoing recovery.
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The outbreak has exposed longstanding gaps in Bangladesh’s child immunisation efforts. A measles vaccination drive planned for 2024 was delayed by the uprising that toppled former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, and a follow-up campaign scheduled for 2025 was further pushed back by workers’ strikes and political instability. SM Ziauddin Hyder, special assistant to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman for health, said the resulting gap left a significant number of children without their doses, and that healthcare workers are now working to close it through the current vaccination drive.
Public health experts say more needs to be done to bring the outbreak under control. Mahmudur Rahman, an epidemiologist and former director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research, said Bangladesh should consider a broader vaccination campaign, while also stressing the importance of public awareness around preventive measures such as isolating infected children, regular handwashing and the use of masks by caregivers.
SM Ziauddin Hyder said, “There was a gap of a significant number of children missing the doses.”
Rima Akter said, “We saw two children die today.”
