The World Health Organization on Thursday said the number of cases of measles, a vaccine-preventable disease that can kill or disable children, is on a rise in every region in the world, except the Americas, reported Reuters.
“We are backsliding, we are on the wrong track,” said Kate O’Brien, director of WHO’s department of immunization, vaccines and biological. “We have a worrying trend that all regions are experiencing an increase in measles except for the region of the Americas, which has seen a small decline.”
O’Brien blamed weak health systems and misinformation about vaccines for surge in measles cases globally, and called on social media outlets and communities to provide accurate information about preventing the highly contagious disease.
“We do see misinformation as an increasing threat,” O’Brien said. “We are calling on social media providers, communities, leaders, people who speak out, to be sure you are communicating accurate, valid, scientifically credible information.”
The WHO said nearly three times as many cases were reported from January to July this year as compared to the same period last year. Nearly 365,000 cases have been reported this year globally, the highest since 2006, it said, noting that they represent only a fraction of the 6.7 million suspected cases. The most recent figures show measles caused an estimated 109,000 deaths in 2017.
The Democratic Republic of Congo reported the highest 155,460 measles cases, followed by Madagascar with 127,454 cases and Ukraine with 54,246 cases. Notably, four European countries including Albania, Czech Republic, Greece, and Britain were stripped of their “measles-free” status in 2018 due to increase in number of measles cases.
Siddhartha Datta, from the WHO’s regional office for Europe, said in the 53 countries of Europe, 90,000 measles cases were recorded in the first half of this year, already more than that for all of 2018.
