Measles, such symptoms claim eight more lives

FE REPORT | Published: May 13, 2026 23:33:21

At least eight more children died from measles-related infections, including one confirmed measles case, in the last 24 hours until Wednesday, taking the total death toll to 432 amid growing concern over malnutrition and post-infection complications among affected children.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), 69 of the total deaths were confirmed measles cases.
The DGHS bulletin said another 1,615 suspected and confirmed infections were recorded during the same period, raising the total number of infections since mid-March to more than 60,200.
Health officials disclosed the latest situation at a briefing held at the DGHS headquarters in the capital on Wednesday, where they also highlighted budget constraints in tackling the worsening public health
crisis.
Prime Minister's Special Assistant on Health Dr SM Ziauddin Hyder said the government plans to allocate 1.0 per cent of the country's GDP to the health sector in the next national budget, up from 0.67 per cent in the previous fiscal year.
He said many infected children were developing severe complications, particularly pneumonia after measles infection, with most of them suffering from malnutrition.
Dr Hyder also said research units under the health ministry are examining whether the measles virus has undergone any mutation.
He announced that the government plans to establish a primary healthcare unit in every ward across unions and cities nationwide and recruit around 100,000 new health workers to strengthen healthcare services.
Dr Hyder also questioned the accuracy of data from the measles-rubella vaccination campaigns conducted in 2020 and 2021 under the previous government, alleging data manipulation.
DGHS Director General Prof Dr Pravath Chandra Biswas said authorities had nearly achieved the target of vaccinating 18 million children under the ongoing campaign, and infection rates had started declining.
Children who missed the vaccination campaign will be brought under special monitoring, he added.
Separately, the Sinovac Foundation, a subsidiary of Chinese vaccine manufacturer Sinovac Biotech, donated 383,000 doses of polio vaccine to Bangladesh's health ministry at a ceremony held on Wednesday.
Health Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain received the vaccines in the presence of Cultural Counselor of the Chinese Embassy Li Shaopeng and Sinovac Biotech Chief Business Director Li Ning.
The health minister said that although measles vaccination programmes are ongoing, diseases such as dengue, polio and hantavirus remain major health threats.
However, he said there is currently no shortage of vaccines for diseases including polio and tuberculosis.
The health minister announced that the nationwide Vitamin A Capsule Campaign would begin soon and said field hospitals are being prepared to handle a possible surge in dengue patients.
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