[ad_1]
About 25 million children worldwide have missed out on routine immunizations against common diseases such as diphtheria, largely because the coronavirus pandemic disrupted regular health services or caused misinformation about vaccines, according to the UN.
In a new report published on Friday, the World Health Organization and UNICEF said their figures showed that 25 million children last year failed to get vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, an indicator of childhood immunization coverage. , continuing a downward trend that began in 2019.
“This is a red alert for children’s health,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director.
“We are witnessing the largest sustained decline in childhood immunization in a generation,” she said, adding that the consequences will be measured in lives lost.
While vaccine coverage fell in every region of the world, the data showed that the vast majority of children who failed to be immunized lived in developing countries, including Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and the Philippines.
The added problem of malnutrition:
Experts said this “historic slide” in vaccination coverage was particularly worrying as it was happening as rates of severe malnutrition were rising. Malnourished children usually have weaker immune systems and infections such as measles can often be fatal for them.
“The convergence of a hunger crisis with a growing immunization gap threatens to create the conditions for a child survival crisis,” the UN said.
Scientists said low vaccine coverage levels have resulted in preventable outbreaks of diseases such as measles and polio.
In March 2020, WHO and partners urged countries to suspend their polio eradication efforts amid the acceleration of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then there have been dozens of polio epidemics in more than 30 countries.
“This is particularly tragic as tremendous progress was made in the two decades before the COVID pandemic to improve childhood vaccination rates globally,” said Helen Bedford, a professor of child health at University College London, who was not affiliated with the UN report.
She said the news was shocking but not surprising, noting that immunization services are often an “early victim” of major social or economic disasters.
Dr. David Elliman, a consultant pediatrician at Britain’s Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, said it was critical to reverse the downward trend in childhood vaccination.
“The effects of what happens in one part of the world can ripple out to affect the entire globe. Whether we act on the basis of ethics or enlightened self-interest, children must be at the top of our list of priorities,” he said in a statement, noting the rapid spread of COVID-19 and more recently monkeypox.
top channel
[ad_2]
Source link
