Global measles cases 3 times higher than 2018

‘Dramatic resurgence’ of measles seen in Europe: WHO Bid to combat health misinformation

This May 15, 2019 file photo shows a vial of a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine at a clinic in Vashon Island, Wash. (AP)

GENEVA, Aug 29, (Agencies): Every region in the world, except the Americas, is experiencing an increase in the number of cases of measles, a vaccinepreventable disease that can kill or disable children, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

The WHO’s Kate O’Brien put the blame on weak health systems and misinformation about vaccines, and called on social media outlets and communities to make sure information about preventing the highly contagious disease was accurate.

“We are backsliding, we are on the wrong track,” O’Brien, director of WHO’s department of immunisation, vaccines and biologicals, told a news briefing.

“We have a worrying trend that all regions are experiencing an increase in measles except for the region of the Americas, which has seen a small decline.”

Nearly three times as many cases were reported from January to July this year than in the same period in 2018, the WHO said.

Nearly 365,000 cases have been reported globally this year, the highest figure since 2006, it said, noting that they represent only a fraction of the 6.7 million suspected cases. Measles caused an estimated 109,000 deaths in 2017, its most recent figures show.

Outbreaks

The biggest outbreaks are raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo (155,460 cases), Madagascar (127,454) and Ukraine (54,246), it said.

Europe has also lost ground, with four countries stripped of their “measles-free” status in 2018 – Albania, Czech Republic, Greece and Britain, it said.

The WHO figures did not include a specific breakdown of numbers for the Americas region.

The United States has recorded 1,215 measles cases across 30 states in its worst outbreak since 1992, federal health officials said on Monday.

Health experts say the virus has spread among school-age children whose parents declined to give them NEW YORK, Aug 29, (Agencies): Pinterest Inc users searching for vaccine-related information will be shown results from leading public health groups, in an effort to combat health misinformation on the site, the social media company said in a blog post on Wednesday.

The move is an aggressive effort to moderate content by the newly public social media company. Social media platforms have been increasingly under fire for promoting misleading and incorrect content, including by opponents of vaccination.

Pinterest said a search for “measles,” “vaccine safety” and other related health terms now would return results from organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the WHO-established Vaccine Safety Net (VSN).

The site will also ban ads, comments or recommendations on

the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, which confers immunity to the disease.

Trust in vaccines – among the world’s most effective and widely used medical products – is highest in poorer countries but weaker in wealthier ones where scepticism has allowed outbreaks of diseases such as measles to persist, a global study found in June.

“We do see misinformation as an increasing threat,” O’Brien said. “We are calling on social media providers, communities, leaders, people who speak out, to be sure you are communicating accurate, valid, scientifically credible information.”

In the 53 countries of Europe, 90,000 measles cases were recorded in the first half of this year, already more than that

those pages, to avoid any misinformation being shown.

“Generally, there’s more accessible and visually compelling health misinformation than science-based journal articles on the virtues of vaccinations,” Ifeoma Ozoma, Pinterest’s public policy and social impact manager, said in a blog post.

The World Health Organization said the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate was one of 10 threats to global health in 2019, citing the resurgence of diseases such as measles.

Trust in vaccines is highest in poor countries but weaker in wealthier ones, according to a global study conducted by Gallup and funded by global health charity The Wellcome Trust that was released in June.

Pinterest’s announcement follows its decision to block all searches for vaccine information earlier this year, staking out a stronger stance than other platforms.

In March, Facebook Inc said it would reduce the rankings of

for all of 2018, said Siddhartha Datta, from the WHO’s regional office for Europe.

Ukraine, which accounts for more than half of the cases, is implementing a robust response, he said. “The ministry of health is doing targeted immunisation campaigns ... They are also doing school-based vaccination, highrisk vaccination of military recruits and health care workers.”

The WHO says there has been a “dramatic resurgence” of measles in Europe, in part fueled by vaccine refusals, with nearly 90,000 people sickened by the virus in the first half of 2019.

In a report issued Thursday, the UN health agency said the number of measles cases from January to June this year is double the number reported for the same period in 2018. Measles is

groups and pages that spread misinformation about vaccines and would reject ads that spread false information about vaccines. It also said it would stop recommending this content on Instagram’s Explore page.

Search results on Instagram, however, can still return antivaccine content. In an Instagram search for “vaccines” on Wednesday, the first result was an account called “Vaccines Uncovered,” which said in its bio that it tells “real stories” of vaccine injuries and vaccine deaths that the “mainstream media won’t show you.” It has nearly 58,000 followers.

In the last year, Google’s streaming site YouTube also stopped running ads on anti-vaccine videos, citing a ban against harmful and dangerous content in its advertising policy. The site said it had adjusted its algorithms to show more authoritative content in search results across news and science content.

among the world’s most infectious diseases and is spread mostly by coughing, sneezing and close personal contact.

Although numerous European countries have introduced stronger vaccination policies, stubborn pockets of vaccine refusal have fueled epidemics across the continent. Last month, the German government proposed making measles immunization mandatory for children and employees at kindergartens and schools; there have been more than 400 cases of measles in Germany this year.

With more than 84,000 cases, Ukraine accounted for the vast majority of measles in Europe, followed by Kazakhstan and Georgia. In February, Ukraine’s health ministry said eight people had died of measles.