120,000+ measles cases in the European Region in 2024

According to a recent joint report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, the European region, which includes parts of Central Asia, recorded more than 120,000 cases of measles in 2024, representing the highest number of cases in more than 25 years. UNICEF has stated that approximately 40 percent of measles infections in the region occurred in children under five and that more than half of the patients required hospital treatment. Romania recorded the highest number of measles infections, more than 30,000, followed by Kazakhstan, which reported 28,147 cases. The WHO and UNICEF have expressed concern over the vaccination coverage of the paediatric population in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro, where respectively less than 70% and 50% of children in these countries have been vaccinated against measles at least in the last five years. Hans Kluge, WHO Director for Europe, emphasised the significance of high vaccination rates in safeguarding the population’s health security. Michael Head, a Senior Research Fellow in Global Health at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, clarified that vaccination coverage is guaranteed by administering two doses of vaccine, which prevent infection, the development of the disease, and its transmission.