A World Without Measles

Measles is one of the most highly transmissible contagious human diseases. In the prevaccine era, >90% of children had measles by their 15th birthday. In 1980, before the use of measles vaccine was widespread, an estimated 2.6 million deaths due to measles occurred worldwide. The aim of Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG4) is to reduce the overall number of deaths among children by two-thirds by 2015, compared with the level in 1990.[1] Recognizing the potential of measles vaccination to reduce mortality among children and that measles vaccination coverage may be considered a marker of access to children's health services, routine measles vaccination coverage was selected as an indicator of progress towards this goal. At the 63rd World Health Assembly (WHA) in 2010, Member States endorsed the following accelerated measles control targets to be achieved by 2015 [2]: exceed 90% coverage with the first dose of measles-containing vaccine nationally and exceed 80% vaccination coverage in every district; reduce annual measles incidence to <5 cases per million and maintain that level; and reduce measles mortality by ≥95%, compared with 2000 estimates. These ambitious targets are aligned with MDG4 and represent milestones towards the global eradication of measles.