HEALTH: DISEASE OUTBREAKS THREATEN VACCINE PROGRESS, UN, GAVI WARN
Read Time:4 Minute, 24 Second
The World Health Organisation, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, have warned that vaccination efforts are increasingly threatened by misinformation, population growth, humanitarian crises, and funding cuts that threaten progress and put millions of children, adolescents, and adults at risk.
This was announced in a news release by Gavi and the UN agencies on Thursday in honour of World Immunisation Week, which runs from April 24 to 30.
According to the release, diseases like diphtheria, which have long been controlled or have all but vanished in many nations, are at risk of resurfacing, while outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses like measles, meningitis, and yellow fever are increasing worldwide.
In response, the organisations are urging immediate and ongoing political focus and funding to fortify vaccination campaigns and safeguard the noteworthy advancements made in lowering child deaths during the previous half-century.
“Vaccines have saved more than 150 million lives over the past five decades,” said WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus. “Funding cuts to global health have put these hard-won gains in jeopardy. Outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases are increasing around the world, putting lives at risk and exposing countries to increased costs in treating diseases and responding to outbreaks. Countries with limited resources must invest in the highest-impact interventions – and that includes vaccines.”
The release stated that measles is making an especially dangerous comeback. The number of cases has been increasing year on year since 2021, tracking the reductions in immunisation coverage that occurred during and after the COVID-19 pandemic in many communities. Measles cases reached an estimated 10.3 million in 2023 a 20 per cent increase compared to 2022.
The agencies warned that this upward trend likely continued into 2024 and 2025, as outbreaks have intensified around the world. In the past 12 months, 138 countries have reported measles cases, with 61 experiencing large or disruptive outbreaks the highest number observed in any 12-month period since 2019.
“Meningitis cases in Africa also rose sharply in 2024, and the upward trend has continued into 2025. In the first three months of this year alone, more than 5,500 suspected cases and nearly 300 deaths were reported in 22 countries. This follows approximately 26,000 cases and almost 1,400 deaths across 24 countries last year.
“Yellow fever cases in the African region are also climbing, with 124 confirmed cases reported in 12 countries in 2024. This comes after dramatic declines in the disease over the past decade, thanks to global vaccine stockpiles and the use of yellow fever vaccine in routine immunisation programmes. In the WHO Region of the Americas, yellow fever outbreaks have been confirmed since the beginning of this year, with a total of 131 cases in four countries.
“These outbreaks come amidst global funding cuts. A recent WHO rapid stocktake with 108 WHO country offices — mostly in low- and lower-middle-income countries — shows that nearly half of those countries are facing moderate to severe disruptions to vaccination campaigns, routine immunisation, and access to supplies due to reduced donor funding.
Disease surveillance, including for vaccine-preventable diseases, is also impacted in more than half of the countries surveyed,” it noted.
It stated that the number of children missing routine vaccinations has been increasing in recent years, even as countries make efforts to catch up with those missed during the pandemic.
“The global funding crisis is severely limiting our ability to vaccinate over 15 million vulnerable children in fragile and conflict-affected countries against measles,” said UNICEF Executive Director, Catherine Russell.
“Immunisation services, disease surveillance, and outbreak response in nearly 50 countries are already being disrupted with setbacks at a similar level to what we saw during COVID-19. We cannot afford to lose ground in the fight against preventable diseases.”
It further stated that joint efforts by WHO, UNICEF, Gavi, and partners have helped countries expand access to vaccines and strengthen immunisation systems through primary health care, even in the face of mounting challenges. Every year, vaccines save nearly 4.2 million lives against 14 diseases with nearly half of these lives saved in the African Region.
UNICEF, WHO, and Gavi urgently called on parents, the public, and politicians to strengthen support for immunisation.
The agencies emphasised the need for sustained investment in vaccines and immunisation programmes, and urged countries to honour their commitments to the Immunisation Agenda 2030.
“Increasing outbreaks of highly infectious diseases are a concern for the whole world. The good news is we can fight back, and Gavi’s next strategic period has a clear plan to bolster our defences by expanding investments in global vaccine stockpiles and rolling out targeted preventive vaccination in countries most impacted by meningitis, yellow fever, and measles,” said Dr Sania Nishtar, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
“These vital activities, however, will be at risk if Gavi is not fully funded for the next five years, and we call on our donors to support our mission in the interests of keeping everyone, everywhere, safer from preventable diseases.”
Gavi’s upcoming high-level pledging summit, taking place on June 25, 2025, seeks to raise at least $9 billion from donors to fund its ambitious strategy to protect 500 million children, saving at least 8 million lives from 2026–2030.
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0