New York/Geneva/Atlanta, November 12 – Measles claimed 207,500 lives in 2019, prompting the WHO and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to warn that more people would die of the disease as attention shifted to Covid-19 causing a pause in measles vaccination campaigns.

The health authorities said over 94 million people, as of November 2020, were at risk of missing vaccines because measles campaigns have been interrupted in 26 countries, with many of them experiencing cases of measles outbreaks. They said the campaigns, after an initial delay, have resumed in these countries: Brazil, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines and Somalia.

WHO and the Atlanta-based CDC said measles cases worldwide increased to 869,770 in 2019, the highest number reported since 1996. They said global measles deaths climbed nearly 50 percent since 2016, claiming an estimated 207,500 lives in 2019 alone.

“We know how to prevent measles outbreaks and deaths,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “These data send a clear message that we are failing to protect children from measles in every region of the world.  We must collectively work to support countries and engage communities to reach everyone, everywhere with measles vaccine and stop this deadly virus.”

“Before there was a coronavirus crisis, the world was grappling with a measles crisis, and it has not gone away,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director. “While health systems are strained by the Covid-19 pandemic, we must not allow our fight against one deadly disease to come at the expense of our fight against another. This means ensuring we have the resources to continue immunization campaigns for all vaccine-preventable diseases, even as we address the growing Covid-19 pandemic.”