Measles battle falters

The world battle against measles is faltering, health officials have warned after a surge in deaths.

The global toll of deaths from the virus increased by about a fifth last year, according to World Health Organization figures.

In total some 145,700 people died compared with 122,000 the previous year.

WHO said this was still 75% fewer deaths than in 2000.

Although countries like the UK have struggled with outbreaks and improving vaccination rates, WHO said the main problem lay in countries with very poor vaccination rates.

These include India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Indonesia.

The extra deaths last year mainly arose from outbreaks in China, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, it warned.

Within Europe, Georgia, Turkey and Ukraine have faced serious outbreaks.

Dr Peter Strebel, from WHO warned: “Poor progress in increasing measles vaccination coverage has resulted in large outbreaks of this highly contagious disease, throwing the 2015 elimination targets off-track.

"Countries urgently need to prioritise maintaining and improving immunisation coverage. Failure to reverse this alarming trend could jeopardise the momentum generated by a decade of achievements in reducing measles mortality."

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