Measles Vaccination Drive Begins Tomorrow: These Upazilas Are on the Priority List

From tomorrow (Sunday), health authorities will launch an emergency measles-rubella vaccination campaign, focusing on children in 30 upazilas across 18 districts.

These areas have recorded high rates of measles transmission, with Barguna Sadar upazila topping the list.

Health officials and an international development partner released the list of selected upazilas on Friday evening.

According to government sources, the campaign aims to vaccinate 1,203,267 children aged between six months and five years in these areas.

The National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) was scheduled to meet on Friday night, and a high-level meeting is expected at the Directorate General of Health Services today (Saturday). These meetings may recommend adding one or two more upazilas to the list.

List of 30 Selected Upazilas:

• Barguna: Barguna Sadar
• Barishal: Mehendiganj, Bakerganj
• Chandpur: Haimchar, Chandpur Sadar
• Cox’s Bazar: Maheshkhali, Ramu
• Dhaka: Nawabganj
• Gazipur: Gazipur Sadar
• Jashore: Jashore Sadar
• Jhalokathi: Nalchity
• Madaripur: Madaripur Sadar
• Munshiganj: Louhajang, Munshiganj Sadar, Srinagar
• Mymensingh: Trishal, Mymensingh Sadar, Phulpur
• Natore: Natore Sadar
• Netrokona: Atpara
• Naogaon: Porsha
• Chapainawabganj: Shibganj, Chapainawabganj Sadar, Bholahat
• Pabna: Ishwardi, Pabna Sadar, Atgharia, Bera
• Rajshahi: Godagari
• Shariatpur: Jazira

According to data released on Thursday by the World Health Organization’s Dhaka office, Bangladesh is currently recording 16.8 measles cases per million people, which is considered significantly high.

The highest number of cases is in Barguna district, with 26 children infected this year (infection rate of 295 per million). The district has 36,088 children in the target age group.

Pabna Sadar upazila ranks second with 32 confirmed cases (infection rate of 180), targeting 72,825 children.

Chandpur Sadar upazila ranks third with 24 cases (infection rate of 144), targeting 57,328 children.

A civil surgeon from a high-risk district told Prothom Alo on condition of anonymity: “We are preparing for the emergency immunisation campaign as per the directives of the Directorate General of Health Services. However, there is a shortage of personnel in our upazila. More than 30 per cent of health assistant positions are vacant. This will be a major challenge for the successful implementation of the campaign.”

Yesterday (Friday), the Integrated Control Centre of the Directorate General of Health Services reported that between 8:00 am on April 2 and 8:00 am on April 3, a total of 947 suspected patients were admitted to hospitals across the country. Of them, 42 children were confirmed to have measles.

From March 15 to April 3, 5,792 suspected cases were tested, out of which 771 were confirmed positive.

The centre also reported 94 suspected measles-related deaths since March 15, with nine officially confirmed as measles-related fatalities.

However, hospital authorities from various facilities have informed Prothom Alo that more than 50 deaths have occurred in the past week alone.