Rohit Shishoidia
Twenty million children missed out on lifesaving vaccines for preventing diseases such as tetanus, diphtheria and measles across the globe in 2018. The has been revealed by the World Health Organization (WHO). These three diseases result in millions of deaths across the world every year.

WHO and UNICEF data highlights that Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Haiti, Iraq, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen are the countries where children remained unvaccinated against these three diseases.  

The data states that in 2018, almost 350,000 measles cases were reported globally, more than doubling from 2017. Henrietta Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF, said that measles is a real time indicator of where there is need for more work to do to fight preventable diseases.

Fore added that as measles is so contagious, an outbreak points to communities that are missing out on vaccines due to access, costs, or, in some places, complacency. There is need to have to exhaust every effort to immunize every child.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghybreyesus, DG, WHO, said that while most kids today are being vaccinated, far too many are left behind. Unacceptably, it’s often those who are most at risk– the poorest, the most marginalized, those touched by conflict.