• Measles Fixed health that should be vaccinated all those born since 1970
  • Research: Children not vaccinated with measles suffer from 'immune amnesia' against other pathogens

UNICEF warned Thursday that measles outbreaks continue to spread worldwide, a disease that killed 140,000 people in 2018, most of them under the age of five. In addition, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO) this disease has returned this year to Albania, the Czech Republic, Greece and the United Kingdom.

Measles cases in 2018 doubled those of 2017. There are still no total results for 2019, but interim reports say that measles cases continue at very high levels. According to WHO, by mid-November of this year, 413,000 cases had been counted, compared to 353,236 registered last year. 250.00 additional cases were registered in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2019 . These figures multiply by three those of 2018.

A low vaccination rate and unvaccinated child population bags have resulted in devastating measles outbreaks in many parts of the world, including countries where there was a high vaccination rate or that had been able to eliminate the disease.

In some cases it becomes difficult to reach children in remote areas because of conflicts, security reasons or failures in social services. In other cases, parents do not vaccinate their children for complacency, mistrust or misinformation about vaccines. This year, for example, the United States had the highest number of measles cases in 25 years and four countries in Europe - Albania, Czech Republic, Greece and the United Kingdom - had the disease again after not registering any cases in 2018.

"The extremely high number of children who died last year from a completely preventable disease is proof that measles, anywhere, poses a risk to children, everywhere," said Henrietta Fore , executive director today from UNICEF.

"When a significant number of children are not vaccinated, the entire community is put in danger. We see this even today in remote places in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, where measles has killed more than 4,500 children. under five years old this year; or in Samoa , where a measles outbreak that has spread very quickly has left many children sick and unable to go to school, "he added.

More than 19 million two-year-old children had not received the first dose of measles vaccine in 2018. UNICEF and WHO warn that the measles vaccine coverage rate has stagnated over the past decade, and with it the rebound in buds is facilitated. In 2018, only 86% of the world's children were vaccinated with the first measles dose and less than 70% received the second recommended dose . These figures are below the 95% coverage rate necessary to eliminate disease outbreaks.

The last affected region is that of Asia-Pacific, where there have been cases of measles even in areas where it had already been eliminated, such as Australia, Japan and New Zealand . In Samoa the Government has declared a state of emergency and all schools have been temporarily closed. According to government data on December 3, measles has already claimed 55 lives, mostly young children. More than 3,800 cases have been registered in a relatively small population and new cases are counted every day.

The five countries that account for 45% percent of measles cases in the world in 2018 were Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Madagascar, Somalia and Ukraine .

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  • Measles

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