Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credits: Allan STEPHEN / UNICEF / AFP 4:45 p.m., February 20, 2024
With more than 306,000 reported last year, cases of measles jumped 79% in one year worldwide, reports the World Health Organization (WHO), which calls for an intensification of vaccination.
The WHO warned on Tuesday of the rapid spread of measles around the world, with more than 306,000 cases declared last year, a jump of 79% in one year, calling for an intensification of vaccination. “We are extremely concerned about what is happening with regard to measles,” Natasha Crowcroft, technical adviser for measles and rubella at the World Health Organization, said at a press briefing. "There has been a steady increase in measles cases in all but one WHO region," the Americas region, she said.
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The region of the Americas overtaken by measles?
But as the numbers rise around the world, the WHO fears that the Americas region could in turn be overtaken by measles epidemics. The latest global data (as of February 2024) shows 306,291 cases reported to the WHO in 2023, compared to 171,156 cases in 2022, an increase of 79%, but the organization emphasizes that the real figures are much higher. Also according to WHO estimates, in 2022 there were 9.2 million cases.
The resurgence of this highly contagious viral disease, which can cause fatal complications and is spread through the air, is attributed to a drop in vaccination coverage during the Covid years. “The prevention of measles and rubella is no longer a global and governmental priority due to competing problems such as Covid-19, economic crises, conflicts, etc.,” says the WHO in a note sent to media.
Measles prevention requires that 95% of children receive 2 doses of measles vaccine. However, at the global level, vaccination coverage stands at 83% and has not returned to the 2019 level of 86%. There were 51 major measles outbreaks last year, compared to 32 in 2022, said Natasha Crowcroft. In order to determine the number of deaths caused by this disease, the WHO usually carries out modeling.
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51 major epidemics in 2023
The WHO does not yet have the results for 2023, but “I can tell you that in 2022, the number of deaths increased by 43% according to our models, to the tune of more than 130,000 deaths due to measles,” he said. noted the WHO expert, who spoke by videoconference from Cairo. And given the explosion of cases last year, "we also expect an increase in the number of deaths in 2023", but the data will not be available before November, she said.
She said the number of deaths will depend on where the greatest number of cases have been reported: with the death toll being higher when cases are concentrated on the African continent.
The WHO has warned that more than half of the world's countries will be classified as at high risk of a measles outbreak by the end of 2024 unless urgent preventative measures are taken. Nearly half (48%) of these countries are low- and middle-income countries. According to the WHO, 92% of children who die from measles live among 24% of the world's population, the majority in low-income countries.