In accordance with the new report by World Health Organisation (WHO) and United States (US) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) titled “Progress Towards Regional Measles Elimination Worldwide 2000-2019”, India is among six countries with the highest number of infants who had not received the vaccine against measles.
- A total of 1.2 million children did not receive the first dose of measles-containing-vaccine (MCV1) in 2019 in India.
- The other five countries are Nigeria (3.3 million), Ethiopia (1.5 million), Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (1.4 million), Pakistan (1.4 million), and Philippines (0.7 million).
Key Points:
—Increase in Cases: The cases of this contagious viral disease across the world increased to 8,69,770 in 2019, the highest number reported in 23 years i.e. since 1996. The reason behind this increase is the failure to vaccinate children on time with two doses of Measles-containing-vaccine first-dose (MCV1) and Measles-containing-vaccine second-dose (MCV2).
—Prevention and Control: To control and prevent measles outbreaks and deaths, the vaccination coverage rates with the required MCV1 and MCV2 must reach 95% and be maintained at national and subnational levels.
- MCV1 coverage has been stagnant globally between 84 and 85% while MCV2 coverage has been steadily increasing but is at 71% now.
- For both doses, vaccination coverage is well below the 95%.
Recent Related News:
i.As per the recent report of the WHO, India is the most depressed country in the world.It mentioned that 1 in 7 people from India suffered from mental illness like depression and anxiety from 1990 to 2017.
ii.As per the WHO, about 80% of fresh HIV infections among adolescents in southern and eastern Africa are among girls.
About World Health Organisation (WHO):
Director General– Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Headquarters– Geneva, Switzerland
