Bishkek, Oct. 22, 2024. /Kabar/. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on the health care system, including the provision of routine immunization services, Technical Officer for Immunization of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Kyrgyzstan Zhanara Bekenova said at a press conference at Kabar News Agency.
She noted that in December 2023, the WHO Regional Office for Europe reported a 30-fold increase in measles cases in the region.
“Unfortunately, during the pandemic, the priority of the health system was COVID-19 and the moment the pandemic started to improve, the problems with the increase of other infectious diseases started. In our region of 53 countries, only 11 countries have managed to keep measles vaccination coverage at 95% or higher. This resulted in more than 60,000 measles cases and 13 measles deaths in the region in 2023. This means that at least half a million children did not receive the first dose of vaccination and about 1 million children did not receive the second dose. Almost half of measles cases, which is observed in our region starting from 2023 is registered among children under 5 years of age,” Bekenova explained.
The WHO representative added that countries of the region have taken great serious measures aimed at controlling this outbreak.
“In 2023, 2.5 million doses of measles vaccine were administered in the region. These measures seem to have helped contain the spread of the virus in these countries. But the spread of the virus still continues. In Kyrgyzstan, vaccination was carried out in three stages and today's eradication campaign is already the fourth stage. Measles is one of the most dangerous diseases, dangerous for small children and pregnant women. The whole danger of the virus is that it affects the human body in such a way that the immune system completely forgets how to fight other infectious diseases. As a result, children who have had measles usually have frequent infectious diseases for two to three years afterwards,” Zhanara Bekenova concluded.