According to experts, the outbreak in Bangladesh is attributed to malnutrition, reduced breastfeeding and, mainly, a drop in the vaccination coverage rate.
Bangladesh is facing the most serious measles epidemic in the last two decades, with more than 50,000 registered cases and at least 320 deaths since March, health authorities admitted.
According to experts, the outbreak in Bangladesh is attributed to malnutrition, reduced breastfeeding and, mainly, a drop in the vaccination coverage rate.
The country of 170 million people has made progress in vaccinating, but gaps in coverage following the 2024 uprising that toppled the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina left children seriously exposed to the deadly virus.
“I was almost sure I was going to lose her today, her condition was terrible in the morning,” Rina Begum, 45, told the France-Presse (AFP) news agency while cradling her 3-year-old granddaughter.
Begum, her eyes red with exhaustion and tears, explained that her granddaughter missed her second dose of the vaccine at 18 months old, and has spent the last two weeks in the measles ward at Shishu hospital in Dhaka.
In all the hospital rooms reserved for victims of the epidemic, the same scenes described by AFP: children short of breath, moving with difficulty, under the gaze of worried and helpless parents and family members.
Measles is considered one of the most contagious diseases by the World Health Organization (WHO), which estimates the number of deaths it causes every year at 95,000, especially among unvaccinated children under 5 years of age.
The virus spreads through coughing and sneezing, and the disease has no specific treatment once contracted.
In addition to vaccination being affected by political instability, United States President Donald Trump’s 2025 decision to cut development aid worsened the situation in Bangladesh, according to AFP.
In response to the crisis, the Government launched an emergency vaccination campaign that has allowed around 17 million children to be immunized since April 5, but efforts have not yet stopped the spread of the virus.
The South Asian country recorded the most serious day since the start of the outbreak on Monday, with 17 deaths in 24 hours.
The Minister of Health, Abu Hussain Moinul Ahsan, warned that it is urgent to increase the vaccination rate from the current 59% to 95% and guarantee group immunity, an objective that he hopes will be achieved within a month.
Little Siam, 14 months old, had been vaccinated, but, due to lack of collective immunity, he did not escape the virus.
Hastily admitted to the ICU at Shishu hospital, he was only able to leave 10 days later and return to a normal room.
“I didn’t expect to see my son alive again,” confessed his mother, Brishti Akhtar, 20, keeping a close eye on her son, still on oxygen.
“But thanks to the help of doctors, he is now out of danger,” he added.
The Minister of Health assured this week that the health system was coping with the shock, despite the influx of thousands of patients.
Still, the army recently set up a 20-bed field hospital on the grounds of the capital’s university hospital, as a precaution.
“The Government asked us due to the measles epidemic”, explained the person responsible for the unit, General Md Asaduzzaman.
The military officer said that the structure could also be used to treat cases of dengue, since the intense rains of recent weeks have caused the resurgence of mosquitoes that transmit the disease in the region.
“We hope that the measles infection will subside quickly,” said General Asaduzzaman.
“And if that is the case, our field hospital could be used for the dengue season,” he added.
The largest measles outbreak in Bangladesh occurred in 2005, with more than 25,000 suspected cases, according to WHO data, a number that had decreased significantly until the current outbreak.
