Measles & Rubella Initiative 2018 annual summary

With global rates of first dose measles vaccine coverage stagnating at 86% and second dose vaccine coverage at only 69%, it is no surprise that we saw measles outbreaks worldwide. It was a painful reminder that without 95% coverage with two doses of measles vaccines, measles virus once introduced into a community will spread to anyone who is not vaccinated or previously immune.We saw large measles outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, the Philippines and Ukraine, resulting in over 353,000 cases worldwide in 2018, double the number of cases in 2017 (173,457). Tragically, Venezuela had measles virus introduction in 2017 with spread to six other South American countries. Because the virus strain circulated for more than a year in Venezuela and Brazil, both countries lost their measles elimination status, and the Region of the Americas consequently lost its measles elimination status. Now none of the WHO Regions are considered to have eliminated measles\u2013 a far cry from the Global Vaccine Action Plan objective of reaching elimination in five of the six WHO Regions by 2020.Moreover, the United States, with a measles outbreak that started in 2018, is at risk of losing its elimination status if the same virus strain is still circulating in October 2019. The U.S. outbreak, with more than 1,000 cases in 2019, highlights the importance of ensuring that even in countries with high vaccine coverage rates communities with less than 95% coverage with two doses of measles vaccine can suffer from measles outbreaks.Includes chart: 2018 in numbersPublication date from document properties.967305_Trifold_noBleed.pdf2019708