(Bloomberg) -- More than 10.3 million people caught measles last year, a 20% increase from a year earlier, according to a joint report by the World Health Organization and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
With outbreaks in 57 countries, the jump reveals gaps in vaccine coverage of the preventable viral illness, with more than 22 million children missing their first dose of measles vaccine in 2023, the agencies said. Measles is highly contagious, requiring at least 95% coverage with two doses of the measles/rubella vaccine to stave off outbreaks.
“Measles infections are rising around the globe, endangering lives and health,” CDC Director Mandy Cohen said in a statement. “The measles vaccine is our best protection against the virus, and we must continue to invest in efforts to increase access.”
Nearly half of all the large and disruptive outbreaks occurred in Africa, the health agencies said. Babies and young children are at the greatest risk of death or serious complications from the disease, which include blindness, pneumonia and encephalitis.
African nations managed to improve vaccine coverage by 2 percentage points to 70% last year, despite the continent on average reporting more Covid 19-related essential-service disruptions than other parts of the world. Routine immunizations, treatment of tropical diseases and nutrition services faced the biggest interference.
Many African countries also face other significant disease outbreaks — including mpox, the Marburg virus, Lassa fever, cholera and wild polio. Those flare-ups put additional strain on the limited resources that are often needed to treat people with HIV and malaria.
(Updates with disproportionate effect on children from second graph)
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