MEASLES

Dec. 9, 2019

The World Health Organization and UNICEF published a report on global scenario of Measles in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

Key findings of the report:

  • In 2018, measles caused an estimated 10 million cases and 1,42,000 deaths globally.

  • There were nearly 70,000 cases of measles in India in 2018, the third highest in the world.

  • At 2.3 million, India has the second highest number of children under one year of age who are not vaccinated against measles. With 2.4 million, Nigeria has the most number of unvaccinated children.

  • The WHO recommends 95% coverage using two doses of measles vaccine to prevent outbreaks. In 2018, only 86% of children globally received the first dose through routine immunisation. In the case of second dose, the coverage globally is just 69%.

  • India accounted for 47% of the 346 million children across the world who received measles vaccine during mass-immunisation campaigns. 

Source : The Hindu