The United Nations kicked off a campaign Monday to reverse dangerous declines in childhood vaccination due to the pandemic, sparking rising outbreaks of diseases like measles and polio. Apr 24, 2023 11:37 PM GENEVA, Switzerland- The United Nations kicked off a campaign Monday to reverse dangerous declines in childhood vaccination due to the pandemic, sparking rising outbreaks of diseases like measles and polio.

The World Health Organization and the UN children's agency UNICEF, along with Gavi, the Gates Foundation and other partners launched "The Big Catch-up", to boost child vaccination worldwide. "Millions of children and adolescents, particularly in lower-income countries, have missed out on life-saving vaccinations, while outbreaks of these deadly diseases have risen," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

"Catching up is a top priority. No child should die of a vaccine-preventable disease." The effort comes after essential immunisation levels decreased in more than 100 countries as the Covid-19 pandemic raged, leading to overburdened health services, closed clinics, and disrupted imports and exports of medical supplies. headtopics.com

Communities also experienced lockdowns that restricted travel and access to services.

In 2021, more than 25 million children missed at least one vaccination, the WHO said, with 18 million of those missing out on routine vaccines entirely.As a result, "outbreaks of preventable diseases, including measles, diphtheria, polio and yellow fever are already becoming more prevalent and severe," it said.WHO said the campaign would focus in particular on 20 countries where three quarers of all children who missed vaccines in 2021 live.

They are Afghanistan, Angola, Brazil, Cameroon, Chad, North Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Somalia, Madagascar, Mexico, Mozambique, Myanmar, Tanzania, Vietnam.