Measles - The Knowns and Unknowns

**117**

**Chapter 8**

**Abstract**

these regions.

**1. Introduction**

Measles in Developing Countries

Measles is a major childhood problem which causes significant illness, death and disability. It infects approximately 40 million people resulting in nearly 1 million deaths annually in developing countries. Measles virus accounts for 44% of total deaths among children that are less than 15 years of age. Highest mortality occurs among children living in poor communities especially in areas that are overcrowded, and where there is malnutrition and vaccination coverage is low. Most of the measles infections in the world are recorded in developing countries of Africa and Asia. Endemic areas are largely confined to the tropics, where transmission increases after rainy season. Inability to effectively immunize most children in this area has hampered global measles mortality reduction initiatives and reduction of under-five child mortality. Although, this was initially scheduled to have been met by 2015, recent WHO resolution called for measles elimination in the African Region by 2020. It is not certain that this will be met; hence the need for coordinated and strategic mass vaccination efforts to target unimmunized children in

**Keywords:** measles virus, genotypes, immunization, vaccination, coverage, Africa

Measles is a serious medical problem in Africa, Latin America, Europe, southeast Asia and eastern Mediterranean [1]. During the pre-vaccine era, 130 million measles cases occurred annually worldwide, and it was the leading cause of childhood deaths [2]. In Africa, about 13 million cases and 650,000 deaths occur annually, with sub-Saharan Africa having the highest morbidity and mortality [3]. In 2018, many developing countries reportedly confirmed measles through laboratory testing with high incidence rates. In AFRO region, Liberia confirmed 218 cases with 412.24% incidence rate. Similarly, Libya confirmed 286 cases with 98.84% incidence rate, Burkina Fasso confirmed 567 cases with 84.2% incidence rate and the southern part of the continent was not left out as Uganda confirmed 531 cases in the laboratory with incidence rate of 65.83%. In the Western Pacific region, Philippines confirmed 1677 cases with incidence rate of 118.5% while Malaysia confirmed 1374 cases with incidence rate of 80.35% [4]. In EURO region, Albania confirmed 1290 cases with incidence rate of 477.05%, Georgia reported 1091 laboratory confirmed cases with 374.74% incidence rate and Kyrgyzstan confirmed 376 cases in the laboratory with 75.22% incidence rate. In EMRO, Afghanistan reported 1846 laboratory confirmed cases with 62.64% incidence rate, Saudi Arabia reported 833 laboratory confirmed cases with 29.99% and 793 laboratory confirmed cases in Yemen with incidence rate of 344.36%. Venezuela in AMRO confirmed 5525 cases in the laboratory with an incidence rate of 23.03% [4].

*Anyebe Onoja and Oluwaseyi Ajagbe*
