Measles cases are escalating worldwide at an alarming rate – mainly due to a drop in vaccines – according to a report from the WHO and the US Centres for Disease Control & Prevention, with 10.3m people being infected last year, a 20% jump from 2022.
At least 95% coverage with two doses of the measles/rubella vaccine is needed to prevent outbreaks of what is one of the most infectious diseases in the world, reports Al Jazeera.
But in 2023, only 83% of children worldwide received their first dose of the vaccine through routine health services – the same level as in 2022, but down from 86% before the pandemic, and only 74% received their second dose last year.
Because of global gaps in vaccination coverage, 57 countries experienced large and disruptive measles outbreaks in 2023, up from 36 countries a year earlier, the WHO/CDC study showed.
Nearly half of all large and disruptive outbreaks occurred in the African region.
The virus estimated to have killed 107,500 people in 2023, most of them children under five – an 8% decrease from the year before, and the agencies warned that a global target of eliminating measles as an endemic threat by 2030 was “under threat”.
By the end of last year, 82 countries had achieved or maintained measles elimination.
WHO’s Americas region is once again considered free of endemic measles, and all regions, with the exception of Africa, meanwhile, count at least one country that has eliminated the disease.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Worldwide measles cases almost double in a year
More than half the world faces high measles risk – WHO