Bangladesh made huge progress on measles but now children keep dying

Public health experts are warning the outbreak in Bangladesh is proof of the dangers of any interruption in vaccine coverage.

Three hours outside of the capital Dhaka, we witness the consequences of the vaccine shortage.

Mosammat Nila Akhter and her husband took their 10-month-old child, Maliha, to a clinic for her vaccine in February, but were told there were none left.

In late March, as the outbreak took hold, Maliha was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, but was discharged just days later. Her parents later noticed a rash beginning to form on her belly.

Back at the hospital, they were told there were no beds available. Desperate, they waited three hours at yet another hospital until another child was discharged. Akhter claims bed shortages led to children with and without measles sharing wards.

“No matter how much we wiped her body down, her fever didn’t come down. The doctors just kept coming and saying, ‘keep wiping her body,'” Akhter says.

They were told Maliha needed an ICU bed, but that the hospital had none to offer. For hours, they travelled in an ambulance, while Maliha was struggling to breathe, until they found one.

“She would just look at me. Even with all those tubes and machines attached to her, she would try to reach out, wanting to crawl into my lap,” Akhter remembers, in tears.

Three days later, Maliha died.

“Everything about her was wonderful,” Akhter recalls, her voice breaking.

“Who to blame?” she asks. “Should I blame the government because my child did not get the vaccine?”