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Global Outbreak of Measles Due to Lack of Vaccination: UNICEF

Number of measles cases in Nepal increased by more than two times in 2018

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Global Outbreak of Measles Due to Lack of Vaccination: UNICEF
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April 26: An estimated 169 million children in the world missed out on the first dose of the measles vaccine between 2010 and 2017, or 21.1 million children a year on average, UNICEF said Thursday.

According to UNICEF, widening pockets of unvaccinated children have created a pathway to the measles outbreaks hitting several countries around the world today.

The number of measles cases is increasing in certain areas of Nepal, with 247 confirmed cases in 2018, up nearly 250 per cent from 2017. The number of confirmed measles cases was 99 in 2017.

“The ground for the global measles outbreaks we are witnessing today was laid years ago,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF executive director. “The measles virus will always find unvaccinated children. If we are serious about averting the spread of this dangerous but preventable disease, we need to vaccinate every child, in rich and poor countries alike.”

In the first three months of 2019, more than 110,000 measles cases were reported worldwide – up nearly 300 per cent from the same period last year. An estimated 110,000 people, most of them children, died from measles in 2017, a 22 per cent increase from the year before.

Two doses of the measles vaccine are essential to protect children from the disease. However, due to lack of access, poor health systems, complacency, and in some cases fear or skepticism about vaccines, the global coverage of the first dose of the measles vaccine was reported at 85 per cent in 2017, a figure that has remained relatively constant over the last decade despite population growth.

Global coverage for the second dose is much lower, at 67 per cent. The World Health Organization recommends a threshold of 95 per cent immunization coverage to achieve so-called ‘herd immunity’.

 

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