Dhaka, July 22 (IANS). Measles has taken the lives of many innocent people in Bangladesh. According to local media, on an average about 4 children are dying every day in the country and more than 800 people are being admitted to hospital. Meanwhile, the attention of the government and the common people seems to be waning somewhat from this health crisis. In media reports, ‘vaccination gap’ is being cited as the main reason for the continuously increasing outbreak of measles.
Despite the government’s claim that it has exceeded the target of the emergency measles vaccination campaign, hospitals are still receiving a large number of patients who have not been vaccinated. This reveals the shortcomings in vaccination coverage.
The measles outbreak remained severe during the first three weeks of July. According to data from Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Health Services, an average of 1,005 suspected and lab-confirmed measles cases were reported every day, 821 were hospitalized and about 4 child deaths were recorded every day.
Bangladesh’s leading newspaper ‘The Daily Star’ quoted Mahmudur Rahman, chairman of the National Verification Committee for Measles and Rubella Elimination, as saying, “The situation has improved, but even after two months of the vaccination campaign, it is not as expected. It seems that the authorities have not fully understood the situation.”
According to health experts, the main reasons behind the continuing outbreak of measles are about 40 lakh children being deprived of vaccination, spread of infection among children outside the prescribed age group of the campaign and weakness of infection prevention and control measures.
At least four children died in a measles outbreak in Bangladesh on Tuesday. Along with this, since March 15 till now, 797 innocent people have died (placed in suspected category) due to confirmed and measles-like symptoms related to this disease.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), this data is till 8 am on Tuesday (last 24 hours). Recent deaths of innocent children have been marked as suspicious deaths related to the disease.
According to the report of The Daily Star, information received from the families of seven children suffering from measles revealed that six of these children had not been vaccinated against measles. Of these, three children were admitted in DNCC Dedicated Covid-19 Hospital and four children were admitted in Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH).
Asif Haider, administrative officer of DNCC Hospital, said that currently 80 to 90 percent of the measles patients admitted have not been vaccinated. The hospital has been providing specialized treatment to measles patients since mid-March.
He said only five of the 74 measles patients admitted to hospital in the 24 hours till Sunday had been vaccinated.
At the same time, Mahmudur Rahman said that the gap of 40 lakh children between measles-rubella and vitamin-A campaigns shows that a large number of vulnerable children are still deprived of vaccination.
Health expert and former DGHS disease control director Be-Nazir Ahmed described the gap of 40 lakh children as “shocking”, saying it points to a very low vaccination target.
He said, “If the goal itself was not right, then such a result was natural.”
Ahmed said inadequate planning and limited public awareness campaign hampered the measles vaccination programme. Many families remained unaware of the revised vaccination schedule.
–IANS
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