More people have died from measles in the Philippines so far this year than in all of 2018, with experts warning about 2.6 million children remain at risk in the country
The outbreak has killed 261 people this year alone -- and most of the victims were children aged under five, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies found.This compares with 202 total deaths in 2018. And that was a 547% increase on the previous year."It is completely unacceptable that children are still dying from measles in 2019," said Richard Gordon, chairman and CEO of the Philippines Red Cross.
How vaccines stop diseases like measles 01:26Rudy Constantino, director of the Philippines Department of Health Disease Prevention and Control Bureau, told CNN Philippines that vaccine levels for measles, flu and other diseases dropped from 70% in 2017 to 39% in 2018"because of the Dengvaxia scare.
How personal belief vaccine exemptions cause measles outbreaks 01:48Global outbreakThe Philippines outbreak comes after global measles cases increased by 48.4% between 2017 and 2018, according to UNICEF analysis."These cases haven't happened overnight," said Henrietta H. Fore, UNICEF's executive director."Just as the serious outbreaks we are seeing today took hold in 2018, lack of action today will have disastrous consequences for children tomorrow.
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