Abstract
Adopted in 2000, United Nations Millennium Development Goal 4 set a target to reduce child mortality by two thirds by 2015, with measles vaccination coverage as one of the progress indicators. In 2010, the World Health Assembly (WHA) set three milestones for measles control by 2015: 1) increase routine coverage with the first dose of measles-containing vaccine (MCV1) for children aged 1 year to ≥90% nationally and ≥80% in every district; 2) reduce global annual measles incidence to <5 cases per 1 million population; and 3) reduce global measles mortality by 95% from the 2000 estimate (1,2).* In 2012, WHA endorsed the Global Vaccine Action Plan† with the objective to eliminate measles in four World Health Organization (WHO) regions by 2015. Countries in all six WHO regions have adopted measles elimination goals. Measles elimination is the absence of endemic measles transmission in a region or other defined geographical area for ≥12 months in the presence of a well performing surveillance system. This report updates a previous report (3) and describes progress toward global measles control milestones and regional measles elimination goals during 2000-2015. During this period, annual reported measles incidence decreased 75%, from 146 to 36 cases per 1 million persons, and annual estimated measles deaths decreased 79%, from 651,600 to 134,200. However, none of the 2015 milestones or elimination goals were met. Countries and their partners need to act urgently to secure political commitment, raise the visibility of measles, increase vaccination coverage, strengthen surveillance, and mitigate the threat of decreasing resources for immunization once polio eradication is achieved.
Highlights
Follow-up supplementary immunization activities (SIAs) generally are conducted nationwide every 2–4 years and focus on children aged 9–59 months; their goal is to eliminate any measles susceptibility that has developed in recent birth cohorts and to protect children who did not respond to MCV1
Periodic follow-up SIAs target all children born since the last SIA. 2) Follow-up SIAs are generally conducted nationwide every 2–4 years and generally target children aged 9–59 months; their goal is to eliminate any measles susceptibility that has developed in recent birth cohorts and to protect children who did not respond to the first measles vaccination
During 2000–2010, global vaccination coverage with the first dose of measles-containing vaccine (MCV1) increased from 72% to 85%, and annual measles incidence decreased from 146 reported cases per 1 million population to 50 cases per 1 million
Summary
This report updates a previous report [3] and describes progress toward global measles control milestones and regional measles elimination goals during 2000–2015. During this period, annual reported measles incidence decreased 75%, from 146 to 36 cases per 1 million persons, and annual estimated measles deaths decreased 79%, from 651,600 to 134,200. None of the 2015 milestones or elimination goals were met Countries and their partners need to act urgently to secure political commitment, raise the visibility of measles, increase vaccination coverage, strengthen surveillance, and mitigate the threat of decreasing resources for immunization once polio eradication is achieved
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