Catholic groups expand prevention efforts after more than 330 children die in a measles outbreak in Bangladesh.
By Stephan Uttom Rozario, OSV News
DHAKA,Ā BangladeshĀ (OSV News) — CaritasĀ BangladeshĀ and Church-run health centers are building infection prevention awareness while the country grapples with a deadly outbreak ofĀ measlesĀ that has left more than 330 children dead since mid-March.
As of May 8, 336 children have died fromĀ measlesĀ andĀ measles-like symptoms across the country, according to the state-run Directorate General of Health Services.
The health directorate said a total of 32,862 suspectedĀ measlesĀ patients have been admitted to hospitals nationwide since March 15.
Amid the outbreak,Ā CatholicĀ charities and health centers run byĀ CatholicĀ nuns are providing healthcare and health awareness in cities and remote areas.
Sister Mary Piusha from the Associates of Mary Queen of the Apostles Sisters has been overseeing St. Paul’s Hospital of the Diocese of Khulna, and told OSV News that, when the country faces a seriousĀ measlesĀ problem,Ā CatholicĀ health centers can’t remain silent.
“We provide our regular service in the hospital and always inform our patients about measles and its symptoms,” Sister Piusha said. “When some come here with the measles, we provide them quick treatment.”
Children die as parents watch helplessly
Families are feeling the crisis firsthand. Belal Hosain, a 35-year-old father, came toĀ BangladeshĀ Shishu (Children) Hospital & Institute in Dhaka with his 12-month-old son, Safayet Hosain, from Tangail district, 93 miles away, after the child contractedĀ measles.
“We are tired and too worried about my child. We have nothing left but the prayer to God,” Hosain told OSV News.
The young father is terrified “when I see another child die in front of my eyes,” he said. “I worry about my child, but there’s nothing I can do.”
TheĀ CatholicĀ Church is playing a vital role in the health sector inĀ Bangladesh, where Christians make up less than 1% of the country’s 180 million population.
Amid the outbreak, Archbishop Kevin Randall, the apostolic nuncio, stressed during a Vatican nunciature event on May 6 that theĀ CatholicĀ Church is running five hospitals, 80 medical clinics, 12 maternity care centers and four nursing schools.
CaritasĀ BangladeshĀ and the Holy Cross Sisters jointly organized several health awareness programs in different rural areas.
Bangladesh’s The Daily Star said May 1 — following an April 30 report from science.org — that theĀ measlesĀ epidemic was a consequence of the interim government’s decision to halt vaccine procurement through the United Nations’ children agency, UNICEF.
Reports say that in 2025, despite repeated warnings about possible disruptions in immunization services, Bangladesh’s Health Ministry halted measles-rubella vaccine procurement through UNICEF, in favor of an open tender process — a competitive method used by governments and public health organizations to procure vaccines.
Featured image: Marsalain, 15 months, who has been suffering from measles for a month, sits in his bed at the Children’s Hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh, May 8, 2026. Catholic Charity Caritas Bangladesh and Church-run health centers are building awareness among the rural people while the country grapples with a deadly outbreak of measles that has left more than 336 children dead since mid-March. (OSV News/Stephan Uttom Rozario)
