They are urging governments and donors to support global efforts to protect lives and maintain vaccination programs.
Global health organizations have warned that rising incidence of measles, meningitis and other vaccine-preventable diseases threaten the progression of vaccinations in decades.
The warning comes from the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Vaccine Alliance Gavi to mark the World Vaccination Week, April 24th to 30th.
Decades of progress have been made in reducing child mortality rates due to funding cuts, misinformation, population growth and the ongoing humanitarian crisis, according to the agency in a joint statement on Thursday.
They are urging governments and donors to support global efforts to protect lives and maintain vaccination programs.
Fatal outbreaks rise
Once controlled diseases are now revived in many countries.
According to the WHO, for example, measles cases have been rising since 2021, with an estimated 10.3 million cases recorded in 2023, an increase of 20% from the previous year.
In the last 12 months alone, 138 countries have reported measles outbreaks, of which 61 have said they are facing a large or destructive outbreak.
In Africa, meningitis is rising rapidly, with more than 5,500 suspected cases in 22 countries in the first three months of 2025, adding that nearly 300 deaths have been reported.
And despite past success in controlling the disease through routine vaccinations and emergency stockpiles, yellow fever has reappeared in Africa and America.
“The African region’s yellow fever cases have also been climbing, with 124 confirmed cases reported in 2024 in 12 countries, which comes after a dramatic decline in disease over the past decade thanks to global vaccine stockpiles and the use of yellow fever vaccines in routine immunization programs.
“The WHO region of the Americas has been confirmed to have yellow fever since the beginning of this year, with a total of 131 cases across four countries,” he said.
The impact of funding reductions
The rise in disease outbreaks occur at a time when global health funding is shrinking.
Those who highlighted a recent survey in 108 low- and middle-income countries revealed that nearly half of them face disruptions in vaccination campaigns due to cuts in donor funding.
Additionally, over half report challenges in disease surveillance, limiting their ability to track and respond to outbreaks.
It highlighted that routine vaccinations struggle to bounce back from the recession of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2023, according to the WHO, around 14.5 million children missed all routine vaccinations from 13.9 million in 2022. More than half of these children live in conflict-affected or unstable areas where access to health care is limited.
UNICEF Executive Director Katherine Russell was quoted as saying the global funding crisis is undermining efforts to vaccinate more than 15 million vulnerable children in conflict zones.
“We can’t afford to lose our position in the fight against preventable diseases,” Russell said.
In January, shortly after his inauguration, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the country from WHO, citing political influence within the agency.
Trump has also suspended all foreign aid assistance that affects health programs in most developing countries, including Nigeria.
Vaccinations still save lives
Despite the challenges, vaccination remains one of the most effective health interventions.
UNICEF and Gavi say the vaccines save around 4.2 million lives each year, with almost half of them being saved in Africa.
“Cooperative efforts by UNICEF, Gavi and partners have helped the country expand access to vaccines and strengthen its vaccination system through primary healthcare.
They revealed that a new vaccine is being introduced to protect against five types of meningitis to broaden its protection.
Elsewhere, HPV vaccine coverage in Africa has almost doubled from 21% in 2020 to 40% in 2023.
They added that progress is also being made in the fight against malaria. Malaria vaccines near African countries are being introduced on a sub-national scale. This is expected to save up to 500,000 lives by 2035 as more countries expand their deployment.
Sign up for the AllAfrica newsletter for free
Get the latest African news
success!
Almost finished…
You need to check your email address.
Follow the instructions in the email you sent to complete the process.
error!
There was a problem processing the submission. Please try again later.
Encourage action
Global health agencies are calling on parents, the public and political leaders to strengthen vaccination support.
They emphasize that vaccinations offer long-term economic and health benefits, adding that every dollar invested in the vaccine will return an economic value of around $54.
Gavi CEO Sania Nishtar said in his remarks that while the outbreak of highly infectious diseases is linked to the whole world, “the good news can be counterattacked.”
In Gavi’s next five-year strategy, Ms Nishtal will focus on the global stockpile and expansion of target countries that have been hit hard by diseases such as meningitis, yellow fever and measles.
However, she said the job depends entirely on funds.
“Gavi’s upcoming high-level commitment summit will be held on June 25, 2025, and will fund an ambitious strategy to protect 500 million children and raise at least US$9 billion from donors to save at least 8 million lives from 2026-2030,” she said.
