The Bangladeshi government has said it suspects that measles has killed at least 98 children in the past three weeks in the country, AFP reported on Sunday.
This has prompted the government to launch an emergency vaccination drive in 18 high-risk districts. The campaign will be expanded from May 3 to cover the entire country.
Measles is a highly infectious disease that is transmitted when a person coughs or sneezes. It is most common among children and can lead to complications such as pneumonia, blindness and encephalitis.
Once an individual contracts measles, there is no specific treatment for it and the infection has to run its course.
According to data from Bangladesh’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the number of children between the ages of six months and five years with suspected measles symptoms has increased to 6,476 in 2026, reported AFP.
The number of confirmed cases of measles among this age group is 826. A total of 16 deaths linked to the disease have been confirmed.
“Compared with past years, the number of affected children is higher and the death toll is higher too,” the news agency quoted Halimur Rashid, director at the Communicable Disease Control department, as saying.
The Dhaka division has reported the highest number of suspected cases at 2,394, followed by Rajshahi at 1,243 and Chattogram at 717, The Daily Star reported. The Rangpur division reported the lowest number of suspected cases at 119.
The World Health Organization said that as of March 28, at least 56 of Bangladesh’s 64 districts have reported measles cases, according to The Daily Star.
Most of the deaths are among unvaccinated children, and health officials and experts have said that the surge in cases has been due to immunisation gaps.
The emergency vaccination drive that was launched on Sunday is prioritising children who missed routine immunisation and are most vulnerable to severe illness and complications.
Vaccination coverage under Bangladesh’s regular immunisation programme has declined in the past two years, The Daily Star reported, citing official data.
The authorities hold special campaigns every four years to cover those who missed vaccines during the regular programme.
The last such campaign was held in 2020. The special campaign in 2024 could not be conducted because of the political unrest in the country at the time, the newspaper quoted Shahriar Sajjad, deputy director of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation, as saying.
Widespread protests in August 2024 had led to the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina government.
Last year, routine vaccinations were also disrupted at least thrice because of strikes by health assistants in rural areas, according to The Daily Star.
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