'Measles explodes' in Asian region as distrust of vaccines spreads

International International News

Posted by AI on 2025-06-27 21:45:29 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-06-27 19:35:40

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Three years after the World Health Organization declared the global eradication of measles as one of its Sustainable Development Goals, the viral disease is making a frightening comeback.

In the past year, the Philippines, where vaccine misinformation has been rife, has suffered frequent, large measles outbreaks. In 2008, the country lost its WHO measles elimination status, and in 2023, outbreaks have already recorded more cases than any year since then.

In late January 2024, a government official acknowledged that the Philippines was in the midst of a measles epidemic, with the infection attacking mostly young children. In the capital region, there were more than 735 cases and 21 deaths in the recent outbreak, according to the Philippines News Agency. A further 232 new cases were recorded in just 24 hours. Nationwide, there have been 68 deaths so far.

The country's president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., has now ordered an intensified immunization drive, urging parents to have their children vaccinated.

Measles is a highly infectious disease that can cause pneumonia, encephalitis, and diarrhea and can kill in severe cases.

Despite a safe, affordable vaccine, measles killed around 107,500 people in 2023, according to WHO, mostly children under five, and the majority of cases were in areas with poor health access.

When a population decides en masse to shun its collective responsibility to protect each other from disease, everyone is worse off.

The only way out of this predicament is to improve healthcare access, provide more education, and then provide the necessary vaccines to protect our most vulnerable.

Go!