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Last year, more than one in ten children – 20 million worldwide – had not received vaccines against life-threatening diseases such as measles, diphtheria and tetanus, the World Organization said on Monday. of Health and the UNICEF Children's Fund.
In a report on global immunization coverage, UN agencies found that immunization levels stagnated, especially in poor countries or conflict zones.
"Vaccines are one of our most important tools for preventing epidemics and keeping the world safe," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement.
"It is often the people most at risk – the poorest, the most marginalized, those who are affected by the conflict or who are forced to leave their homes – who are missing forever," he said. "Far too many are left behind."
The WHO / UNICEF report revealed that since 2010, immunization coverage with three doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine and one dose of measles vaccine had stagnated at around 86%.
According to the report, it was too low, since 95% coverage is usually needed to provide "collective immunity" to those who are not vaccinated.
In 2018, for example, the number of measles cases worldwide has more than doubled to nearly 350,000.
"Measles is a real-time indicator of our efforts to fight preventable diseases," said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director. "An epidemic indicates communities that lack vaccines … (and) we must do everything in our power to vaccinate all children."
Nearly half of the world's unvaccinated children live in 16 countries: Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iraq, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. .
According to the report, if these children get sick, they risk the most serious health consequences and are the least likely to get the treatment and care they need.
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