Bangladesh faces a fast-worsening public health crisis as the mosquito-borne diseases
dengue and chikungunya spread side by side, overwhelming hospitals and heightening fears of an even bigger outbreak in the weeks ahead.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services, the South Asian country has recorded over 33,800 dengue cases and 132 deaths this year. In the first week of September alone, at least 10 people died and more than 1,500 were admitted to hospitals with fever.
Chikungunya, absent for years, is making a forceful return. Between January and July, four Dhaka-based labs confirmed 785 cases of the virus, with detection rates topping 30% in some facilities. In the port city of Chittagong, officials reported 30 cases in just 24 hours, pushing the city’s tally to nearly 3,000 this year.
Hospitals are struggling to cope. At Dhaka Medical College Hospital, the country’s largest public hospital, wards are overflowing, with more than three times the number of patients they were designed to hold.
Experts warn that the crisis could deepen unless mosquito control campaigns are intensified.
