Outbreaks Threaten Progress Against Vaccine-Preventable Diseases

Forbes

24-04-2025

Measles and other diseases are on the rise, straining health systems and putting lives at risk. A call to action to invest in immunization as funding cuts jeopardize hard-won global gains.
Twelve-year-old Fatima shows her nail marked with ink indicating that she has been vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV) at her home in Katsina, Nigeria. Fatima's mother, Binta Salisu, 42, works as a volunteer community mobilizer, informing and educating community members about the importance of routine immunization.
Immunization has saved an estimated 150 million lives since 1974 — six lives every minute. Vaccination accounts for 40 percent of the improvement in infant survival rates. It is one of the best buys in health, with a return on investment of $54 for every $1 invested.
And when vaccination is made part of an integrated primary health care system, families are connected to other essential services, from antenatal care to nutrition and malaria screenings.
Yet immunization efforts are under growing threat. Coverage gaps persist.
Misinformation, population growth, humanitarian crises and funding cuts are jeopardizing progress against vaccine-preventable diseases, leaving millions of children, adolescents and adults at risk, UNICEF, the World Health Organization and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, warned in a joint statement issued on April 24, 2025, the first day of World Immunization Week.
A health worker administers an oral vaccine to an ethnic Shan baby during a catch-up routine immunization session supported by UNICEF in a hard-to-reach village in southern Shan State, Myanmar.
The statement included a call to action for parents, the public and politicians to strengthen support for immunization, and for countries to honor their commitments to the Immunization Agenda 2030 through sustained investments in routine immunization programs and catch-up campaigns.
'The global funding crisis is severely limiting our ability to vaccinate over 15 million vulnerable children in fragile and conflict-affected countries against measles,' said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. 'Immunization services, disease surveillance and outbreak responses in nearly 50 countries are already being disrupted — with setbacks at a similar level to what we saw during COVID-19. We cannot afford to lose ground in the fight against preventable diseases.'
Related: Vaccines Save Lives
There were 10.3 million measles cases in 2023 — up 20 percent compared to 2022 — and the upward trend has likely continued in 2024 and into 2025, the agencies reported, with 138 countries reporting measles cases in the past 12 months.
Outbreaks of meningitis and yellow fever are also rising globally. Diseases like diphtheria, which have long been held at bay or have virtually disappeared in many countries, are at risk of re-emerging.
These outbreaks are coinciding with global funding cuts. Nearly half of WHO's 108 country offices, most of them in low- and lower-middle-income countries, recently reported moderate to severe disruptions to vaccination campaigns, routine immunization and supply access due to reduced donor funding. Surveillance activities are also affected.
Enamul Haque, a UNICEF-supported health worker, transports vaccines to remote communities in India's Darrang district, Assam state. On the job since 2016, he travels some 20 miles every day, cold boxes strapped to his motorcycle.
At the same time, more children are missing out on routine vaccinations, despite catch-up efforts following the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, an estimated 14.5 million children missed all of their routine vaccine doses, up from 13.9 million in 2022 and 12.9 million in 2019.
Over half of these children live in fragile settings, including countries facing conflict or instability — environments where access to basic health services is often disrupted.
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UNICEF's joint efforts with partners have helped countries expand access to vaccines and strengthen immunization systems through primary health care, despite the mounting challenges.
Related: Delivering Measles Vaccines on Horseback in Kyrgyzstan
Building immunity, one dose at a time: Sameh, 5, receives the polio vaccine near his house in Aden, Yemen as part of a UNICEF-supported immunization campaign.
As the world's largest single vaccine buyer, UNICEF procures more than 2 billion doses of vaccines annually for routine immunization campaigns and outbreak response — supplying enough vaccines each year to vaccinate 45 percent of the world's children under age 5.
And there have been some recent wins:
Related: HPV Vaccination Campaign Protects Girls in Nigeria
In Katsina, Nigeria, three sisters — from left: Safiyyai, 19, Shamsiyya, 30, and Hadiza, 25 — venture out to educate local families with girls aged 9-14 years about the week-long second phase of the single-dose human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine rollout, which has been incorporated into Nigeria's routine immunization program, with UNICEF's support. Shamsiyya has been a volunteer community mobilizer since 2012, informing and educating community members about the importance of routine immunization.
'Increasing outbreaks of highly infectious diseases are a concern for the whole world," said Dr Sania Nishtar, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. "The good news is, we can fight back."
'Increasing outbreaks of highly infectious diseases are a concern for the whole world. The good news is, we can fight back.'
Gavi's plan — with UNICEF as a key partner — is committed to expanding its investments in global vaccine stockpiles and rolling out targeted preventive vaccination in countries most impacted by meningitis, yellow fever and measles. Targets for 2026 to 2030 are to reach 500 million children with vaccine protection, saving at least 8 million lives. But lack of funding could undermine these efforts, Nishtar noted.
A high-level pledging summit on June 25, 2025 seeks to raise at least $9 billion from donors.
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