UNICEF and WHO say COVID-19 disrupted vital vaccination campaigns for many other diseases, creating a “perfect storm”.
Measles cases have increased by almost 80 percent worldwide this year, the The United Nations said on Wednesday adding that the rise in measles cases was a warning of likely outbreaks of other diseases.
The coronavirus pandemic interrupted vaccination campaigns for many diseases around the world, creating a “perfect storm” that could now put the lives of millions of children at risk, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization said. Health (WHO) in a statement.
“Nearly 17,338 measles cases were reported worldwide in January and February 2022, compared to 9,665 during the first two months of 2021,” the UN agencies said, adding that highly transmissible measles cases tend to appear rapidly when vaccination levels decline.
Agencies are now concerned that measles outbreaks “might herald outbreaks of other diseases that don’t spread as quickly.”
reported worldwide #measles cases
🔴 17,388 Jan-Feb (2022)
🔴 9,665 Jan-Feb (2021)That’s an increase of 📈79%
WHO and @UNICEF warn of a ‘perfect storm’ of conditions, ripe for serious outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases https://t.co/jjmwgWGt9Q pic.twitter.com/r04UvGTSVg
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) April 27, 2022
There have been 21 large and disruptive measles outbreaks in the past 12 months as of this month, most of them in Africa and the eastern Mediterranean, UN data show.
Somalia recorded by far the most measles cases in the last 12 months with more than 9,000 cases, UN data shows, followed by Yemen, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Ethiopia, all countries facing some form of conflict. .
There are also fears that the war in ukraine could spark a resurgence of the disease in the country, which had recorded the highest measles rate in Europe between 2017 and 2019.
Impact ‘felt for decades’
More than 23 million children missed routine vaccinations in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic spread, the most children missing vaccinations in more than a decade.
UN agencies said 57 vaccination campaigns in 43 countries were postponed at the start of the pandemic and are still ongoing, affecting 203 million people, most of them children.
The pandemic continues to put pressure on healthcare facilities and personnel, diverting attention from vital vaccination for long-standing and deadly diseases.
“Now is the time to get essential immunization back on track and launch recovery campaigns so that everyone can have access to these life-saving vaccines,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in the statement.
Disruptions in immunization services will be “felt for decades to come,” he said.
Measles is a disease caused by a virus that mainly attacks children. More serious complications include blindness, swelling of the brain, diarrhea, and serious respiratory infections.
A vaccination rate of at least 95 percent is the best way to prevent the spread of the disease, although many countries fall short of that goal.
Somalia has only 46 percent acceptance of vaccination, according to UN data.