DHAKA (OSV News): Caritas Bangladesh and Church-run health centres are raising infection prevention awareness as the country grapples with a deadly outbreak of measles that has left 336 children dead as of May 8.
The Directorate General of Health Services stated that a total of 32,862 suspected measles patients have been admitted to hospitals nationwide since March 15.
Amid the outbreak, Catholic charities and health centres operated by Catholic nuns are providing healthcare and raising health awareness in both cities and remote areas.
Sister Mary Piusha of the Associates of Mary Queen of the Apostles Sisters, who oversees St. Paul’s Hospital in the Diocese of Khulna, said that when the country faces a serious measles problem, Catholic health centres cannot 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.”
The Catholic Church plays a vital role in Bangladesh’s health sector, where Christians make up less than one per cent of the country’s 180 million population.
Amid the outbreak, Archbishop Kevin Randall, the apostolic nuncio, emphasised at a Vatican nunciature event on May 6 that the Catholic Church runs five hospitals, 80 medical clinics, 12 maternity care centres, and four nursing schools.
Caritas Bangladesh and the Holy Cross Sisters have jointly organised several health awareness programmes in various rural areas.
Bangladesh’s The Daily Star reported on May 1—following an April 30 article from science.org—that the measles epidemic resulted from the interim government’s decision to halt vaccine procurement through the United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF.
Reports indicate that in 2025, despite repeated warnings about possible disruptions to immunisation services, Bangladesh’s Health Ministry halted measles-rubella vaccine procurement through UNICEF in favour of an open tender process—a competitive method used by governments and public health organisations to procure vaccines.
