54,000 cases of measles in Ukraine in 2018

Last year, 54,000 cases of measles, including 16 deaths, were reported in Ukraine, a record in Europe, according to Ukrainian and international health authorities.

"Ukraine ranks first in Europe in terms of measles," said the World Health Organization (WHO) office, with several European countries experiencing a significant increase in cases of the disease.

The organization also noted that this number is also a record for Ukraine since the independence of the former Soviet republic in 1991. The spread of the disease was widespread in 2006 and focused 43,000 injured. The high incidence of injuries started in Ukraine in 2017 due to poor vaccination.

In 2018, a total of 54,480 people were infected with measles, including 34,280 minors, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, which attributes this to the "anti-vaccination campaign".

Sixteen of them, including 12 minors, died of the disease in 2018. In early January, a new death was recorded. The Lvov region (west) is the most vulnerable to the disease with 11,000 injuries recorded. Seven thousand of them were not vaccinated, the others only received one dose instead of two.

The authorities urge citizens to be vaccinated to limit the risk of transmission.