Chioma Umeha
Nigeria is among African countries on the danger
list of measles epidemics with increasing number of cases reported worldwide
which is said to have quadrupled compared with the same time last year, the
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned.
The UN body said provisional data indicated ‘a
clear trend,’ with all regions of the world seeing outbreaks.
Africa had witnessed the most dramatic rise – up
700 per cent.
The agency said that over 20 million children
worldwide have missed out on the measles vaccine annually in the past eight
years.
A statement signed by Geoffrey Njoku, UNICEF’s
Communication Specialist, at the weekend in Abuja, also ranked Nigeria as one
of the lowest and middle-income countries in a critical situation.
About 169 million children were estimated to have
missed out on the first dose of the measles vaccine between 2010 and 2017, or
21.1 million children a year on average.
But, the numbers for the second dose of measles
vaccination are more alarming. Of the top 20 countries with the largest number
of unvaccinated children in 2017, nine have not introduced the second dose.
Also, 20 countries in sub-Saharan Africa have not
introduced the necessary second dose in the national vaccination schedule,
putting over 17 million infants a year at a higher risk of measles during their
childhood.
In high income countries, while coverage with the
first dose is 94 per cent, coverage for the second dose drops to 91 per cent,
according to the latest data.
The statement said: “The United States tops the
list of high-income countries with the most children not receiving the first
dose of the vaccine between 2010 and 2017, at more than 2.5 million. It is
followed by France and the United Kingdom, with over 600,000 and 500,000
unvaccinated infants, respectively, during the same period.
“In low and middle-income countries, the situation
is critical. In 2017, for example, Nigeria had the highest number of children
less than one year of age who missed out on the first dose, at nearly four million.
It was followed by India 2.9 million, Pakistan and
Indonesia 1.2 million each, and Ethiopia 1.1 million,” he said.
According to Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive
Director, the ground for the global measles outbreaks witnessed in the world
today was laid years ago.
She further said that measles was far too
contagious and “it was critical not only to increase coverage brutal so to
sustain vaccination rates at the right doses to create an umbrella of immunity
for everyone.
“The measles virus will always find unvaccinated
children. If we are serious about averting the spread of this dangerous but
preventable disease, we need to vaccinate every child, in rich and poor
countries alike.”
The statement also noted that “in the first three
months of 2019, more than 110,000 measles cases were reported worldwide up
nearly 300 per cent from the same period last year.
An estimated 110,000 people, most of them
children, died from measles in 2017, a 22 per cent increase from the year
before.
“Two doses of the measles vaccine are essential to
protect children from the disease. However, due to lack of access, poor health
systems, complacency, and in some cases fear or skepticism about vaccines, the global
coverage of the first dose of the measles vaccine was reported at 85 per cent
in 2017.
The figure that has remained relatively constant
over the last decade despite population growth,” the statement said, adding,
“Global coverage for the second dose is much lower, at 67 per cent.”
The World Health Organisation recommends a
threshold of 95 per cent immunisation coverage to achieve so-called ‘herd
immunity,’
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