A measles epidemic is sweeping Bangladesh, claiming the lives of nearly a thousand children, in the worst outbreak of this disease in the country in decades, while crowded hospital wards are filled with infants struggling for survival.
The cries of sick children and the sounds of oxygen machines fill Shishu Children's Hospital in Dhaka, where Reema Akhtar keeps her nine-month-old baby.
Akhtar, 30, told Agence France-Presse: “Just an hour ago, a child died and they transported him in front of us. "We saw two children die today." Her son, Thabet Haq, is one of many children receiving treatment for measles in the hospital.
According to the latest Ministry of Health figures, at least 986 children have died since March, while the number of confirmed and suspected infections exceeded 180,000.
Measles is a highly contagious disease transmitted through coughing and sneezing, and there is no specific treatment for it after infection. Its complications may lead to brain swelling and severe breathing problems. Although the disease may affect anyone, children are more vulnerable to its risks.
Bangladesh, with a population of 170 million, launched a massive vaccination campaign to confront the outbreak, but the number of infections is still rising.
Malnutrition exacerbates the crisis
“Since July, I have been moving between several hospitals to obtain appropriate treatment for my son,” said 19-year-old Sanjana Islam Modena, holding her six-month-old son, Ayan, who is connected to an oxygen tube. Ayan's head is covered in small, fading dark spots, left behind by the severe red rash caused by measles.
Ayan was hospitalized for the first time with pneumonia in July, then contracted measles, before finally receiving a bed at the specialist children's hospital in the capital in mid-August.
The child spent 15 days in intensive care before his condition improved enough to transfer him to a ward designated for measles patients. The hospital currently includes 101 children suspected or confirmed of measles.
Modena added to Agence France-Presse, while she was trying to calm her crying child, “His lungs were very weak due to pneumonia, and then measles made his breathing more difficult.” He has been receiving oxygen continuously for five days.”
Most cases in Bangladesh during the current outbreak were recorded in children between the ages of six months and five years.
Doctors say that many children arrive at hospitals in critical condition, while malnutrition weakens their ability to resist the virus.
“The doctors gave my son a special milk prepared for children who suffer from malnutrition,” Modena continued, wiping the sweat from her little one’s forehead.
"Destructive"
The outbreak has exposed gaps in Bangladesh's efforts to protect its children, and Ziauddin Haider, special assistant to Prime Minister Tariq Rahman on health, described the outbreak as "devastating."
Bangladesh has made significant progress in vaccination against infectious diseases, but a measles campaign scheduled for 2024 was delayed due to the uprising that toppled former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Worker strikes and political instability also delayed the 2025 campaign. Since then, the country has launched a massive vaccination campaign to confront the outbreak, but infection numbers are still rising.
“There were a large number of children who did not receive the doses,” Haider said. He added: “Health care workers are working to vaccinate these children to fill the shortage.”
Mahmudur Rahman, an epidemiologist and former director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research, said Bangladesh should consider launching a broader vaccination campaign to contain the outbreak.
He pointed out that public awareness is also necessary, stressing the importance of preventive measures, including isolating infected children, washing hands, and having caregivers wear masks.
As for Akhtar, she does not need anyone to remind her of how quickly the disease spreads, and she said: “We realize how quickly this disease is transmitted. “Our son was initially hospitalized with bronchitis.” She continued: “After he left, we had to return because of measles.”
Philippine Vice President Sarah Duterte posted bail on Saturday in a Manila court, the day after an arrest warrant was issued against her on charges of making a death threat to the country's president.
Duterte was accused last month of making “serious threats” based on statements she made in which she said she had hired a hit man to kill President Ferdinand Marcos, his wife, and his cousin, a former member of parliament, if she was assassinated before that. She later said her comments had been misunderstood.
The death threat is a key element in her ongoing trial before the Senate, where a guilty verdict will lead to her removal from office and a permanent ban on her from practicing politics.
Her lawyer, Lawrence Lim, said, “The Vice President appeared voluntarily before the court that issued the arrest warrant, and therefore there was no need to arrest her.”
His statements came after Duterte left court, with a court order confirming that she had paid a cash bail of 360,000 pesos ($5,740).
She was also subjected to regular procedures during which her fingerprints were taken, without forensic photographs being taken of her, according to the lawyer.
Duterte said in a statement that her lawyers advised her to post bail for her safety. She added: “They explained to me that I would be better protected by civilians who would be able to monitor my situation, rather than being detained and isolated with limited protection.”
Before entering court, Duterte stated that she feared for her life. “I don’t want to pay bail if there is no one watching me,” she said, adding that she is a victim of police harassment.
She wondered: “Are they going to throw me in prison, and then I will die in my sleep one night?”
Under Philippine law, a criminal conviction for this charge carries a penalty of up to six months in prison.
On Friday, the Vice President's legal team issued a statement saying that she "does not intend to evade the law, and will continue to exhaust all means available to her."
Justice Department officials rejected arguments from the vice president's legal team that she could not be prosecuted for crimes also related to her impeachment.
In May, Duterte was removed from office by the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Parliament, on charges including corruption and embezzlement.
If a guilty verdict is issued in the Senate, where the ninth week of her trial recently concluded, it would end her plans to run for president in 2028.
Duterte announced her candidacy for the first time in February, according to Agence France-Presse.
Nepalese rescue teams continue to search for survivors in tunnels in the north of the country after finding two workers who had been trapped in them since the devastating floods that swept the region on August 26, according to the army.
Nepalese army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet told Agence France-Presse on Saturday: “Search and rescue operations are continuing this morning. Efforts are being made inside the tunnels... We have no new information, but work continues.”
Nine days after the disaster, two Nepali workers, Sanjay Sah (30 years old) and Kabir Maharjan (45 years old), were recovered on Friday from a tunnel at the Trishuli-3 dam construction site where they were trapped.
“We were at least 40 or 45 people at the time of the flood,” Sah said in a video clip shown by a Nepali media. I couldn't run away alone (...) I asked them all to run. "I didn't have time to go out."
After the flood occurred, the Nepalese authorities said that about a hundred workers were trapped inside the tunnel.
Dozens of rescue personnel are racing against time in harsh geographical and climatic conditions in an effort to rescue workers trapped inside tunnels at the sites of power plants and dams under construction, while digging, bulldozing and blasting operations continue non-stop, with the help of teams from China, India and South Korea.
Also today, Nepal's Prime Minister's Office said rescuers pulled a Chinese national alive from a hydropower tunnel 10 days after the floods. Authorities said about 900 workers were still missing from 12 hydropower projects across Nepal, with about 500 believed to be trapped in various tunnels. The military said a joint rescue team of Nepalese army personnel and South Korean disaster experts rescued the man from a 225-meter-long tunnel. (about 738 feet) and that he was undergoing a health assessment. Pictures showed him being transported by helicopter, where a military medic was examining him during the flight. Also, the army spokesman said that rescuers recovered a woman alive from a house ten days after floods occurred in the town of Nuwakot.
According to the latest, non-final toll, the wall of water, ice and debris that swept through a number of valleys in the region on the border between Nepal and China resulted in the deaths of at least 1,325 people, 1,294 in Nepal and 31 in China, and the loss of about 5,600 people, including about 800 foreigners.
The Nepal Emergency Authority reported that more than 900 employees and workers at hydropower sites, both operating and under construction, are still missing.
