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Muscat: No cases of measles have been recorded in Oman, despite a recent global spike.
While the number of official cases has also increased in the Sultanate, an extensive awareness campaign led by the Ministry of Health has prevented the potentially lethal situation from becoming a single life here.
The Ministry of Health's vaccination campaign began early, after ministry leaders saw the alarming global trend.
In addition, the ministry has also been able to significantly reduce the number of measles cases in the Sultanate since its last major epidemic in 2016-2017.
A Ministry of Health official told The Times of Oman: "No measles deaths have been recorded in the Sultanate since the epidemic. All patients recovered from the illness and were discharged. Since the last national campaign, the number of cases has decreased significantly from 186 in 2016/17 to 10 in 2018. In 2018, the 10 reported cases were treated and there was no local transmission. measles. "
The ministry spokesman added: "The Oman Ministry of Health has taken a number of steps to prevent cases and future outbreaks in Oman, in order to achieve the elimination of measles and rubella by 2020 ".
These include the achievement and maintenance of at least 95% immunity of the population against measles at the wilayat level of each governorate through routine and / or supplementary vaccination, reinforcement disease surveillance, preservation of the quality of laboratory monitoring systems. diagnosis, and an obligation of vaccination documents for the expatriate population. The ministry has also undertaken periodic research activities to identify immunity gaps and take immediate action to prevent outbreaks.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), measles is a highly contagious viral disease transmitted by droplets from the nose, mouth or throat of infected people.
An estimated 110,000 people were killed worldwide in 2017 as a result of the measles outbreak, as countries halted and reduced their immunization programs or did not take sufficient precautions. Countries around the world have reported outbreaks of measles, with the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean and Europe being particularly affected, with the Western Pacific being the only region to record a decline in measles cases.
"The reappearance of measles is a source of serious concern, with prolonged outbreaks occurring in all regions, and particularly in countries that have reached or are on the verge of eliminating the disease" said Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Deputy Director General of Programs at WHO.
"Without urgent efforts to increase immunization coverage and identify populations with unacceptable levels of under-immunized or unvaccinated children, we risk losing decades of progress in protecting children and communities from this entirely preventable disease." . "
While the Western Pacific Region has reached its lowest ever measles rate and two countries have been declared to have eliminated rubella, vaccination activities in the South-East Asia Region have resulted in the eradication of measles. 39, avoid about 622,000 deaths from measles in 2017.
However, 19.9 million children were under-vaccinated in 2017, four out of six regions experienced a large outbreak of measles and several countries and one region lost their measles elimination status. The measles epidemics of 2017 led the Americas to lose their measles elimination status in 2018. Between 2000 and 2016, measles immunization averted an estimated 20.4 million deaths.
The first measles immunization program in Oman began in 1981 and several other plans are also being adopted to increase immunization coverage, including a two-dose vaccination system, identification and elimination of cases. Isolated measles and the development of a case of high quality. measles surveillance based on a regional measles laboratory.
An official from the Ministry of Health said, "Oman entered the phase of measles elimination in 1996. Despite high immunization coverage, small clusters of measles continue to occur, mainly because of imported cases. or related to importation among the sensitive population of Oman. However, Oman has successfully interrupted endemic transmission in the country for more than a decade through high quality continuous surveillance and immediate prevention and control measures. "
The 2018 Global Vaccine Action Plan badessment report, which aimed to halt the spread of several diseases, including measles, rubella, maternal and neonatal tetanus, and wild poliovirus, indicated that Countries had canceled some of their vaccination programs after falling asleep a sense of false security as to the extent of the spread of their vaccination campaigns.
"This year clearly shows how easy it is to lose hard-earned gains," the report says. "Due to low national coverage or insufficient coverage pockets, several WHO regions have been affected by large outbreaks of measles and diphtheria causing many deaths."
"To stimulate action, the Global Plan of Action for Vaccines has set ambitious targets, and most goals will not be achieved by the end of the Vaccine Decade in 2020."
"The elimination of measles has taken a step back in 2017," the report adds. "Although the incidence of measles has more than halved since 2010, it has increased from 19 to 25 cases per million in 2017, with increases observed in four of the six regions of the WHO. Significant outbreaks have occurred worldwide, including in Venezuela and other countries of the Americas, which has helped to restore endemic transmission of measles in Venezuela.
The report adds, "Epidemics in North America and Europe point out that measles can easily spread even in countries with mature health systems. Due to ongoing epidemics, measles is again considered endemic in Germany and Russia. Measles outbreaks have been observed in countries reporting satisfactory national immunization coverage, evidence of immunization gaps, and highlighting the need to ensure high subnational coverage, particularly among the vulnerable population. "
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