Nearly 87 thousand cases of measles occurred in 2019 with a death toll of 207,500.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, LONDON – The number of children who suffer measles in 2019 it reached a record high in the last 23 years. The news is announced in new data published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States (US) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In a study, WHO and CDC said there were nearly 87,000 cases of measles in 2019, with the death toll up to 207,500. This figure shows an increase of up to 50 percent since 2016.
One of the reasons for this increase is a significant decrease in vaccination. Children should receive two doses measles vaccine to avoid this highly contagious disease.
“The data shows clearly that we are failing to protect children from measles in every region of the world,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
To prevent a measles outbreak, WHO estimates that about 95 percent of the population must be immunized. Vaccination coverage using the two measles vaccines has stalled between 70 percent and 85 percent globally.
The WHO and CDC warn that global efforts to stop the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic have also complicated the measles vaccination campaign, allowing the disease to spread further. The two agencies said that in November there were more than 94 million people in 26 countries at risk of not being vaccinated against measles because of the campaign. measles vaccination which was stopped.
Many of these countries are suffering from ongoing epidemics. Of the countries with delayed immunization services this year, only eight have restarted, including Brazil, Central African Republic, Congo, Ethiopia, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines and Somalia.
Measles mostly affects children under five and can be fatal in those who are malnourished or have weak immune systems. More than 95 percent of deaths from measles occur in developing countries. In fact, throughout Europe, this disease is recorded to cause major outbreaks every year.
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