50% more deaths worldwide between 2016 and 2019

It is a return that worries the world health authorities. Measles, this viral infection that primarily affects children, killed 207,500 worldwide in 2019 according to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, which is 50% more than in 2016.

Decrease in vaccination coverage

Measles is a highly contagious viral infectious disease that primarily affects children. Most often it starts with a cold, followed by a cough and eye irritation. Then fever and red spots appear on the body. If the disease is not treated in time, it can cause pneumonia, encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) which can leave severe neurological consequences or even lead to death.

WHO counted 869,770 measles cases worldwide in 2019. To find such high numbers, we have to go back to 1996, 23 years ago. This wave of cases is explained by vaccination coverage which is not sufficiently followed around the world.

The measles vaccine is given in two injections six months apart. In theory, 95% of the population must be vaccinated to maintain herd immunity. However, the coverage rate for the first dose has stuck at 85% worldwide and drops to 71% for the second injection.

“We know how to prevent measles outbreaks and subsequent deaths, says Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. These data clearly show that in all parts of the world we are unable to protect children from measles. We must act together to help countries and inspire communities to immunize everyone, everywhere, against measles and to stop this deadly virus.“

Measles vaccination victim of Covid-19

Without vaccination, a person who has contracted measles can infect between 15 and 20 others. Contaminated people are more often those who have not received treatment or who have not completed it. If the data for the year 2020 are not yet known, it is very likely that the borders imposed in many countries and the saturation of hospitals due to the Covid-19 crisis have severely slowed the measles vaccination campaign.

According to the WHO, more than 94 million people are at risk of not being vaccinated as predicted this year due to the interruption of vaccination campaigns in 26 countries. “Before there was a coronavirus crisis, the world was in the throes of a measles crisis, which has not gone away, underlines Henrietta Fore, executive director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef). Although the Covid-19 pandemic weighs heavily on health systems, our fight against one deadly disease cannot come at the expense of our fight against another. This requires ensuring that we have the necessary means to continue vaccination campaigns against all vaccine-preventable diseases, even as we fight the growing Covid-19 pandemic.. “

It is with this in mind that WHO and Unicef ​​launched last week an emergency appeal to combat the return of measles and polio epidemics, which is also returning.

In France, measles vaccination is mandatory for children aged one year. However, this does not prevent 6,000 measles cases being reported in the territory between 2018 and 2019. according to data from Public Health France.