Although reports of a measles outbreak emerged early this year, the government began releasing information from March 15. So far this year, 1,002 people have died from measles and its symptoms, averaging more than five deaths per day.
As of Wednesday, the number of patients coming to hospitals with measles symptoms rose to 167,580. Among them, 147,393 were admitted to hospitals, while 141,819 were discharged after treatment. The number of patients diagnosed with measles is 19,904. However, not all patients arriving at hospitals undergo measles testing.
According to the guidelines of the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG), testing is no longer necessary because measles is present in 64 districts and almost all upazilas. Therefore, all patients admitted to hospitals with symptoms must be considered measles cases.
An analysis of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) data shows that in the first 30 days of the measles outbreak, about 2,500 patients were admitted to various hospitals across the country. Over the following three months, this number remained limited to 4,000.
As of July 31, the number of patients admitted to various hospitals was 4,128. On Wednesday, this number reached 5,574, which is double compared to the first 30 days.
Following criticism and protests after the measles outbreak, the government initially started measles and rubella vaccination in 30 high-risk upazilas on April 5.
Subsequently, vaccination began in four city corporation areas on April 12. The nationwide measles and rubella vaccination campaign started on April 20 and concluded on May 20. On May 14, the DGHS bulletin published information that 100 percent coverage, or vaccination of 100 percent of target children, had been completed.
Questions arose regarding the vaccine coverage because there was a discrepancy between the target number of children the government set to curb the measles outbreak and the number of children brought under the Vitamin 'A' Plus capsule program.
The government included children of the same age group as measles in the program to administer Vitamin 'A' capsules. That means the age of the children brought under both programs was 6 to 59 months.
According to data from the National Institute of Nutrition, 22,360,509 children were administered Vitamin 'A' Plus capsules on June 28.
According to DGHS bulletin data, 18,477,616 children received the measles vaccine. A difference of 3,882,893 was observed between the children who received capsules and those who received the vaccine. As this raised questions, the government stated it would bring the left-out children under vaccination.
According to the latest DGHS bulletin, against a target of 18 million in the country, more than 19.7 million children have been vaccinated, which is 109 percent of the target.
Calculations show that the difference in the number of children receiving Vitamin 'A' capsules and the measles vaccine is still about 2.6 million. That means 88.34 percent of children did not receive the measles vaccine.
In a program at the Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute on August 19, State Minister for Health M. A. Muhit said that there is no scope to give unrealistic assurances regarding measles. Even if the pace of vaccination is increased by 100 percent, it will take another two to three months to fully control measles.
"However, efforts are underway to reduce child mortality during this time by ensuring maximum treatment and strengthening field-level monitoring."
The World Health Organization (WHO) provided an age-based analysis of those who died from measles. It shows that 20 percent of the deceased were under six months of age, and 31 percent were between six and nine months old. That means 51 percent of those who died from measles were under nine months of age.
Data indicates that children under six months and over five years of age are at risk. However, no government decision is known regarding how they will be brought under vaccination or otherwise protected. Experts believe that measles cannot be controlled unless decisions are made regarding children in these two age groups.
Experts' Advice
At the start of the vaccination in April, the Ministry and Directorate of Health claimed that measles infections would begin to decline from June after vaccination. In reality, the infection situation is the opposite.
Despite claiming 100 percent coverage for the measles vaccine, measles infections did not decrease because herd immunity was not developed among a large desired portion of children.
According to public health experts, "A vast number of children have remained outside vaccination, so herd immunity has not developed in their bodies. On the other hand, children under six months are also contracting measles. Why are they contracting it? Because their mothers did not receive the measles vaccine, immunity to measles has not developed in the child's body either. Malnutrition has now become one of the causes of death from measles. In that case, everyone must be informed about the importance of breastfeeding infants. And underprivileged children, including street children, children of sex workers, and "If 95 percent of children are not brought under vaccination, it is not possible to prevent children from being infected or dying."
