WHO Alert: More than 3 crore children around the world are at risk of this deadly disease, know what is the reason..

Measles Outbreak: In the last few years, the whole world has been hit by serious infectious diseases one after the other. The coronavirus infection that spread in the last months of the year 2019 not only affected crores of people, but other viral infections that emerged along with it, such as monkeypox, Zika, and H5N1 diseases, also had a major impact on global health.

The rapid spread of these diseases not only affected the health services but also increased the difficulties of those who were already suffering from chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. When the focus of health services was on fighting these new infections, there was a decline in the treatment and monitoring of chronic diseases. The most worrying thing was that the regular program of childhood vaccines, which was a strong link to preventing many deadly diseases, was also badly disrupted during this period. Due to this, cases of those diseases are increasing again, which we had almost eradicated with decades of hard work.

Expressing concern in a recent report, a team of experts said that due to the affected pace of regular vaccines during the epidemic, the risk of measles disease has again started looming over more than 30 million children around the world.

Side effects of a drop in child vaccination rates

Experts have warned that due to a drop in child vaccination rates, millions of children around the world are facing an increased risk of serious illness and death. Due to a drop in measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination, Britain is considered to be the most affected country, where cases of measles are increasing rapidly among children.

Figures released by the World Health Organization and UNICEF show that more than 30 million children around the world have not been fully vaccinated with the MMR vaccine, while 1.43 crore children have not received a single dose of the vaccine.

The situation is such that in Britain, which was declared measles-free by the World Health Organization in 2017, cases of this disease have started increasing rapidly again.

Side effects of a huge drop in vaccination coverage

A survey conducted in 53 countries in Europe and Central Asia found that vaccination coverage here was on average one percent lower than 2019 levels. In 2024, most of these countries could not even meet the 95% vaccination rate required to achieve immunity from measles, with about a third of countries reporting less than 90% coverage.

The UK has had the worst performance in vaccination. Only 89% of children were given the first MMR vaccine in 2024, while this number was 96% in Germany, 95% in France, Italy, and Japan, and 92% in the US and Canada.

Health experts expressed concern.

Health experts say that measles cases are increasing continuously around the world, and it is emerging as a major risk to health services. The team of experts says that measles is one of the most infectious diseases. Even a slight drop in vaccine coverage can lead to a devastating surge. To protect every child, we need to increase vaccination coverage in every country, in every district.

Dr Hans Kluge, Regional Director of the World Health Organization in Europe, says-

Last year alone, more than 3 lakh people in our region suffered from whooping cough, which is more than three times that of the previous year. Meanwhile, more than 1.25 lakh measles cases were seen in 2024, which is double that of 2023. These are not just numbers, but millions of families are in pain that their children are sick, whereas it could have been prevented with a little caution."

Concern for India too

India was one of the worst-affected countries till a few decades ago; however, the risks of this disease have been reduced significantly in recent years by promoting vaccination. According to the data, between the years 2017 and 2021, there was a 62% decline in measles cases in India, during which the number of cases per million population decreased from 10.4 to 4.

However, during the epidemic, the national vaccination campaign was also affected, in which a large number of children missed the measles vaccine. Therefore, increasing cases of measles in children have been reported from many parts of the country in the recent past. A team of experts has alerted about this.

PC Social media