Official data from Bangladesh's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare indicates that at least 98 children have died from suspected measles in the past three weeks. The capital, Dhaka, has intensified vaccination efforts in the worst-affected areas as the crisis deepens.

Last week, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman directed two senior ministers to travel across the South Asian nation of 170 million people to assess the scale of the emergency and help coordinate a response. Ministry figures released on Sunday show the number of children aged six months to five years with suspected measles symptoms has surged to 6,476.

Halimur Rashid, director at Communicable Disease Control, told AFP: "Compared with past years, the number of affected children is higher, and the death toll is higher too." He attributed the potential outbreak to "multifactorial causes, including a shortage of vaccines." Confirmed measles cases among young children stand at 826 with 16 deaths, though experts note testing is often not conducted or patients die before it can be done.

Measles is one of the world's most contagious diseases, transmitted through coughing or sneezing, and while it can affect any age, it is most common in children, potentially causing severe complications like brain swelling and respiratory issues. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates up to 95,000 measles deaths occur globally annually, mostly among unvaccinated or undervaccinated children under five.

Bangladesh has made significant strides in vaccination programs to combat infectious diseases, but a measles drive scheduled for June 2024 was delayed due to a deadly uprising that same year, which toppled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Most Bangladeshi children receive a vaccine at nine months, though many infected in the recent outbreak were as young as six months old.

Mahmudur Rahman, chief of the National Verification Committee of Measles and Rubella, stated: "We committed to reducing the number to zero by December 2025 but failed to achieve the target due to poor vaccination programmes." Dhaka has identified 30 of the most affected areas and launched a vaccination program, with Health Minister Sardar Shakhawat Hossain Bakul saying it will cover the "worst affected areas" before expansion.

Source: www.aljazeera.com