Global measles cases to jump 20 percent by 2023 due to 'inadequate' vaccine use – National
Measles cases rose 20% last year, driven by a lack of vaccinations in the world's poorest and conflict-torn countries, the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday.
Almost half of all major and disruptive disease outbreaks occurred in the African region where the death toll increased by 37%.
“Currently, every country in the world has access to the measles vaccine, so there is no reason why a child should be infected with this disease and no child should die from measles,” said WHO's Natasha Crowcroft, senior technical advisor on Measles and. Rubella, he told the media.
Measles is caused by an airborne virus that mainly affects children under the age of five, but it can be prevented with two doses of measles vaccine. However, vaccination coverage was “inadequate” worldwide, the WHO and CDC said.
There will be 10.3 million cases of the highly contagious virus by 2023, compared to 8.65 million reported the previous year, the report by two organizations said.
The number of deaths related to the disease fell by 8% to 107,500 due to improved access to health services and vaccines in high-income countries, such as Europe where cases rose last year.
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Despite the reduction in numbers, the death toll was “unacceptable,” the organizations said.
The “biggest and biggest” reason for the rise in cases is the failure of the system to reach children with vaccines, said WHO's Crowcroft. However, vaccine skepticism also played a role.
Vaccine skepticism has been increasing since the COVID-19 pandemic as people no longer trust the value of childhood vaccines against diseases such as measles and polio.
More than 22 million children will miss their first dose of measles vaccine by 2023, the organizations said.
That year, disruptive measles outbreaks were reported in 57 countries due to vaccination gaps, representing a nearly 60% jump in 36 countries the previous year, the report said.
Apart from the African region, a significant increase in cases has been reported in the Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific, the report said.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy and Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
