Published : 19 Aug 2026, 08:48 PM
Updated : 08 Sep 2026, 09:34 AM
State Minister for Health MA Muhit has said Bangladesh’s measles outbreak could begin to ease within two to three months if the government’s current measures remain on track.
Muhit said he did not want to make “unrealistic” promises about an immediate improvement, acknowledging shortcomings in vaccination coverage and a shortage of frontline health workers.
“There were shortcomings in our vaccination programme. There was also a shortage of health workers administering vaccines at the field level,” he said.
“I don’t want to make the unrealistic claim that measles will subside within a week. If the government’s efforts remain on track, the outbreak will ease within two to three months.”
His comments came on Wednesday in response to a question at a meeting held at Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute in the capital to share the findings of research on measles among children.
Stressing that the current government had shown no lack of commitment regarding measles, he said: “Considering the situation, we started vaccination as quickly as possible. I commend the field workers who worked with double the workforce in many remote areas. There were only 25,000 field workers available against a requirement of 40,000. Despite this, they vaccinated nearly 20 million children in one month. By international standards, this is a massive operation.”
The state minister further said, “Measles is a highly infectious disease. The research covered various issues, including children’s antibodies and breastfeeding. But we cannot prevent deaths simply by having thousands of ventilators or hospitals. The most effective way to stop measles is vaccination, and that programme is ongoing. Rather than new hospitals and ICUs, we want to see healthy children.”
Outlining the government’s future plans for protecting child health, he said the current government was giving the highest priority to child healthcare.
“Within the next two to three months, five fully equipped children’s hospitals will begin operations in five divisional cities across the country. In addition, to address the shortage of manpower in the health sector, 5,000 new doctors, 1,000 nurses and 100,000 new field workers will be recruited very soon,” he said.
The meeting was chaired by Prof AKM Azizul Haque, chairman of the governing board of Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute.
