Even after four months, measles has not been brought under control. In these four months, measles and its symptoms have claimed the lives of 766 children. Despite the government’s rapid initiative to launch a vaccination campaign, this infectious disease is not being stopped. The health department has vaccinated more children than the target number to prevent measles. But public health experts blame the lack of measles prevention as many children are excluded from the vaccination campaign.
In this regard, Professor Dr. Bey-Nazir Ahmed, former director of the disease control branch of the Directorate General of Health Services, told Bangladesh Pratidin, ‘The target of vaccinating 95 percent of children against measles has not been achieved. About 4 million children have not been vaccinated. So how will the target be achieved? Usually, if the target is set correctly and vaccination is given, the infectious disease measles is supposed to be under control in 15-20 days. But children are still dying from measles, getting infected. This is disappointing. So many children died because the wrong target was set in the national program.’
According to the report of the Directorate General of Health, in the last 24 hours (from 8 am last Monday to 8 am yesterday), six children have died of measles symptoms and one child has died of measles. Measles infection started in the country on March 15. In these four months, 1 lakh 26 thousand 979 children have been infected with measles and measles symptoms, and 766 children have died.
According to the data of the Directorate General of Health Services on July 13, 184,79,383 children have been vaccinated so far in the ongoing nationwide measles-rubella campaign, exceeding the target. According to the data of the Directorate General of Health Services, the campaign had set a target of 180,15,064 children to be vaccinated. Accordingly, the national vaccination coverage stands at 103 percent.
The target has been met or exceeded in almost all divisions. Chittagong division has achieved the highest coverage. Where 44 lakh 52 thousand 992 people have been vaccinated against the target of 42 lakh 96 thousand 218 people, which is 104 percent. Coverage has been 103 percent in Dhaka, Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions and 102 percent in Mymensingh division. While vaccination coverage in Barisal and Khulna divisions is 101 percent, there has been a little less progress compared to the target in Sylhet division. There, 13 lakh 16 thousand 454 children have been vaccinated against the target of 13 lakh 23 thousand 966 people, which is 99 percent coverage.
Vaccinations have also been given in city corporation areas. A total of 20,31,664 children have already been vaccinated against the target of 1,95,950 children.
As a result, the overall coverage in the city corporation area stands at 107 percent. In particular, vaccination coverage in Gazipur and Dhaka North City Corporations has reached 114 and 110 percent respectively, which is higher than the national average.
Under the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI), the first dose of measles vaccine is given to children at the age of 9 months in the country as part of the regular vaccination program. The second dose of measles vaccine is given to children at the age of 15 months. But before the start of the national measles-rubella campaign, the government decided to vaccinate all children in the country between the ages of 6 months and 5 years. According to the EPI, there are 18 million 15 thousand 64 children of this age in the country.
However, after the nationwide Vitamin ‘A’ campaign started on June 28, there has been confusion about the number of children of the same age. Vitamin A capsules are being administered to children aged 6 months to 5 years. In this case, a target of 22.6 million children has been set. In the case of Vitamin A and Measles-Rubella, the difference in the number of children of the same age is 4.6 million. These children are not included in the vaccination program.
In this regard, public health expert Dr. Mushtaq Hossain told Bangladesh Pratidin, ‘It is difficult to control the method that has been applied. We have to work in the same way as we deal with an epidemic. Services should be provided in a tiered manner, including primary care, secondary care, and ICU.
“Children suffering from malnutrition must be identified and isolated at the community level. Otherwise, it will be seen that on one hand, vaccination is being given while on the other hand, children are getting infected.”
He also said, “A microplan is needed for vaccination. But due to the spread of the infection, the government did not have time to plan for this vaccination campaign. Therefore, it is difficult to control the measles infection that has spread across the country without going door to door.”
