The World Health Organisation expressed concern Tuesday about the fast spread of measles, with more than 306,000 cases registered globally last year, a 79% rise from 2022.
“We in the measles world are extremely concerned,” said Natasha Crowcroft, WHO’s technical adviser on measles and rubella.
She emphasised, however, that measles cases are often significantly under-reported, and that the true figure was probably far higher.
To obtain more exact data, the UN health agency models the numbers each year, with the most recent projection predicting 9.2 million cases and 136,216 measles fatalities in 2022.
Such modelling has not yet been done for last year, but Crowcroft said that fatalities in 2022 had already increased by 43 percent over the previous year.
Given the rising case count, “we would anticipate an increase in deaths in 2023 as well,” she told reporters in Geneva via video connection from Cairo.
“This year is going to be very challenging,” she stated.
She cautioned that more than half of the world’s countries are expected to be at high risk of measles epidemics by the end of this year.
Furthermore, it is predicted that around 142 million youngsters are prone to illness.
Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus that primarily affects youngsters. The most significant effects include blindness, brain swelling, diarrhoea, and severe respiratory infections.
Crowcroft cited “backsliding immunisation coverage” as a key contributor to the rising numbers.
cc: Vanguard Ng
