UN warns vaccine-preventable diseases on the rise globally

Outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, meningitis, and yellow fever are on the rise globally amid misinformation and cuts to international aid, the United Nations and the Gavi vaccine alliance warned Wednesday.

“Vaccines have saved more than 150 million lives over the past five decades,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. “Funding cuts to global health have put these hard-won gains in jeopardy.”

Tedros added that the increasing outbreaks around the world are “putting lives at risk and exposing countries to increased costs in treating diseases.”

Measles, for example, is making an “especially dangerous comeback,” with cases rising every year since 2021 and reaching an estimated 10.3 million in 2023, which is a 20 percent increase since 2022.

The organizations believe that the trend is likely to have continued into 2024 and 2025.

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, according to the statement.

The joint statement was signed by the World Health Organization, the United Nations children’s fund UNICEF, and Gavi, and was released Wednesday at the start of World Immunization Week, which runs April 24-30.

Cases of meningitis and yellow fever have also increased significantly in Africa in 2024, it said.

The spikes are taking place amid rising misinformation, population growth and humanitarian crises.

Meanwhile, funding cuts jeopardize progress and leave millions of children and adults at risk, the groups said, without explicitly mentioning a drastic reduction in US humanitarian aid under President Donald Trump.

“The global funding crisis is severely limiting our ability to vaccinate more than 15 million vulnerable children in fragile and conflict-affected countries against measles,” added UNICEF chief Catherine Russell.

Even as countries attempt to catch up on their immunization backlogs following the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of children missing routine vaccinations has continued to rise.

In 2023, an estimated 14.5 million children missed all of their routine vaccine doses, up from 13.9 million in 2022.

In this context, Gavi is calling for at least $9 billion in funding ahead of its June 25 pledging summit “to protect 500 million children, saving at least 8 million lives from 2026–2030.”