Difficulty: Challenger (Level 2)
Since March 15, Bangladesh has been battling its deadliest measles outbreak in decades. In two months, it killed nearly 500 children as of May 20. Last week, the country rolled out a mass vaccination campaign, the United Nations children’s agency said.
Deaths are still rising, according to health ministry figures. But a nationwide vaccine drive has now reached 18 million children, Unicef country chief Rana Flowers said.
Zahid Raihan is a spokesman for the health department. He said there were signs of improvement in the areas where the outbreak hit hardest. But the full impact of the vaccines would take time to show. He said the vaccines would become effective four months after people got the shots.
The South Asian nation of 175 million people has more than 50,000 confirmed and suspected cases of measles. The contagious disease has affected children younger than nine months as well as older adults.
Measles affects children the hardest. They might struggle to breathe, and their strength fades. In the worst cases, the infection reaches the brain, causing swelling that can lead to lasting damage or death.
Some children did not get their vaccines during and after the uprising that overthrew the country’s former government. Now, those children are exposed to measles (see graphic).
“Bangladesh has gone through quite a transition over the last couple of years,” Flowers said. “The failure to order vaccines was not the result of a lack of money. It was the decision around how to procure them that created a delay.”
She stressed the need to improve vaccine programmes and increase funding for health facilities. She said lessons must be learned about the dire failures that led to swathes of deaths, including delays in vaccine procurement.
“We want to move to a place where routine vaccinations are working properly and reaching the children who need to be reached,” Flowers said.
