GENEVA
The nearly 130,000 cases of measles reported in Europe in 2024 are unacceptable and require "immediate action," the technical lead for measles at the World Health Organization's (WHO) European Office said Friday.
Dragan Jankovic was referring to a report recently released by the WHO and UNICEF, in which 127,350 measles cases were documented in the European region for 2024, double the number of cases reported for the previous year and the highest number since 1997.
The region consists of 53 countries in Europe and Central Asia.
According to the report, children under 5 accounted for more than 40% of reported cases in the region, and more than half of the reported cases required hospitalization. Additionally, a total of 38 deaths were reported based on preliminary data.
Jankovic said that the agency saw the number of cases going down by the end of 2024; however, usually, the number of cases increases at the beginning of the year.
In the European region, the majority of cases happen in the period from February to May, he noted and said: "This is a timely call for action."
Catch-up immunization campaigns are urgently required to protect children who missed out on routine vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
A resurgence in cases was seen in 2018 and 2019, with 89,000 and 106,000 cases reported, respectively, according to the report.
Following a backsliding in immunization coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic, cases rose significantly again in 2023 and 2024, the report explained as the vaccination rates in many countries are yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, increasing the risk of outbreaks.
The technical lead called on countries to define and map out the specific reasons for low vaccine acceptance within their populations, whether it's issues in the health system, education, or social factors.
The European region accounted for a third of all measles cases globally in 2024, the report found. In 2023 alone, 500,000 children across the region missed the first dose of the measles vaccine (MCV1) that should be given through routine immunization services.
Less than 80% of eligible children in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Romania were vaccinated with MCV1 in 2023 – far below the 95% coverage rate required to retain herd immunity, it said. In both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro the coverage rate for MCV1 has remained below 70% and 50% respectively for the past five or more years.
Romania reported the highest number of cases in the region last year with 30,692 cases, followed by Kazakhstan with 28,147 cases.
Jankovic said that so far, most cases were reported in Eastern Europe and Central Asia; however, Western European countries like the UK, France, and Germany were also affected by the outbreak.
He also drew attention to the imported cases and said: "The issue is impossibility to control importation right now, I think we have few countries in the south and the west of Europe, Spain and France, reporting cases related to importations."
He noted that 3,000 measles cases were reported in January 2025 alone.