Geneva/New York – Vaccination efforts warn WHO on World Vaccination Week from April 24-30 as misinformation, population growth, humanitarian crises, funding cuts, risk progress and put millions of children, adolescents and adults at risk.
The outbreak of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, meningitis and yellow fever is rising worldwide, with diseases like diphtheria, which have long been detained or virtually disappeared in many countries at risk of reappearing. In response, the agency is strengthening vaccination programs achieved in the past 50 years to reduce child mortality, calling for urgent and sustained political attention and investment.
“The vaccine has saved more than 150 million lives over the past 50 years,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “With global cuts in funding for health, these hard-working and hard-working benefits are at risk. The outbreak of vaccine-preventable diseases is rising worldwide, putting lives at risk and increasing costs of treating and incidence of diseases.
Rising outbreaks and tense medical systems
Measles is making a particularly dangerous comeback. Case numbers have been rising year-on-year since 2021, with many communities tracking reduced vaccination cuts that have occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic. Measles cases reached an estimated 10.3 million in 2023, an increase of 20% compared to 2022.
The agency warns that this upward trend likely continued into 2024 and 2025 as the outbreak is increasing worldwide. Over the past 12 months, 138 countries have reported cases of measles, with 61 people experiencing a large or destructive outbreak.
The cases of meningitis in Africa also rose sharply in 2024, and the upward trend continued until 2025. Over 5,500 suspected cases and nearly 300 deaths have been reported this year alone. This follows around 26,000 cases and nearly 1,400 deaths in 24 countries last year.
Cases of yellow fever in the African region have also been climbing, with 124 confirmed cases reported in 2024 in 12 countries. This comes after a dramatic decline in disease over the past decade thanks to global vaccine stockpiles and the use of yellow fever vaccines in daily vaccination programs. Yellow fever has been confirmed in the WHO region of the Americas since the beginning of this year, with a total of 131 cases across four countries.
These outbreaks come amidst the global cuts in funding. The recent WHO Rapidstock has acquired 108 country offices in at least middle-class and low- and middle-income countries, indicating that almost half of these countries face access to supplies due to vaccination campaigns, routine immunizations, and reduced donor funding. Disease surveillance, including vaccine-preventable diseases, is also affected in more than half of the countries surveyed.
At the same time, even as countries are making an effort to chase children missed during the pandemic, the number of children who have lost their routine vaccinations has increased in recent years. In 2023, an estimated 14.5 million children missed all the routine vaccine doses from 13.9 million in 2022 and 12.9 million in 2019. More than half of these children live in countries facing conflict, vulnerability, or instability.
“The global funding crisis has severely restricted the ability to vaccinate more than 15 million vulnerable children in a country vulnerable to measles and affected by conflict,” said Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF. “Vaccination services, illness surveillance and outbreak responses in nearly 50 countries have already been suspended. A retreat at a similar level to what we saw during Covid-19. We cannot afford to lose the ground in the fight against preventable diseases.”
Continuing investment in the “Big Catch-Up Initiative” launched in 2023 will contact children who have missed the vaccine during the Covid-19 pandemic, with other routine immunization programs being important.
How vaccinations address these challenges
A joint effort by UNICEF, Gabi and partners by WHO has helped the country expand access to vaccines and strengthen its vaccination system through primary health care. Each year, the vaccine saves nearly 4.2 million lives against 14 diseases. Almost half of these lives are saved in the African region.
The vaccination campaign eliminated meningitis A in the African meningitis belt, but the new vaccine protects against five strains of meningitis, promises wider protection, and efforts are underway to expand its use for outbreak response and prevention.
Although there has also been progress in reducing yellow fever cases and deaths due to increased daily vaccinations and emergency vaccine stockpiles, recent outbreaks in Africa and the US highlight the risks in areas with no previously reported cases.
Additionally, the past two years have made significant advances in other areas of vaccination. In Africa, where the world’s highest cervical cancer burden is burdened, HPV vaccines have almost doubled from 21% to 40% between 2020 and 2023, reflecting a coordinated global effort to eliminate cervical cancer. Advances in vaccination include increasing global coverage of pneumococcal conjugated vaccines, particularly in the Southeast Asia region.
Another milestone is the sub-national introduction of malaria vaccines in nearly 20 African countries, laying the foundation for saving 500,000 additional lives by 2035 as more countries adopt vaccines as part of the tool to combat malaria and accelerate scale-up.
Encourage action
UNICEF, WHO and Gavi are urgently calling on parents, the public and politicians to strengthen their support for vaccination. The agency highlights the need for sustained investment in vaccines and vaccination programs and urges countries to respect their commitment to the Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030).
As part of an integrated primary health care system, vaccinations can protect against illness and link families to other important care, such as prenatal care, nutrition, and malaria screening. Vaccination is the “best buy” in health, with a return on investment of $54 per investment, providing the foundation for future prosperity and health security.
“The rise in the outbreak of highly infectious diseases is a concern for the whole world. The good news is that we can fight back. Gavi’s next strategic period has a clear plan to strengthen our defenses by expanding investment in global vaccine stockpiles and expanding targeted preventive vaccinations in countries most affected by meningitis, YERS NISTAR’s Allism nish nish and ce measurement flames, and the standard flames of old ce, targets of old ce. “But these important activities will be at risk if Gavi is not fully funded for the next five years. We call on donors to support our mission to maintain safer everyone from preventable diseases.”
Gavi’s upcoming high-level pledge summit, held on June 25, 2025, aims to raise at least US$9 billion from donors to save at least 8 million lives from 2026 to 2030.
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About who
Dedicated to the health and well-being of all people, the World Health Organization, led by science, leads and defends global efforts to give everyone equal opportunities for a safe and healthy life everywhere. We are the United Nations Health Organization. We bring together frontline nations, partners and people in over 150 locations. Leading global responses to health emergencies, preventing illness, addressing the root causes of health issues, and expanding access to medicines and healthcare. Our mission is to promote health, keep the world safe and serve vulnerable people. www.who.int
About UNICEF
UNICEF works in some of the toughest places in the world to reach the world’s most underprivileged children. Spanning over 190 countries and territories, we work for all children to build a better world for all. For more information about UNICEF and its work, please visit www.unicef.org. Follow UNICEF on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube
About the Vaccine Alliance, Gabi
Gavi, Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate more than half of the world’s children against some of the world’s most deadly diseases. Since its founding in 2000, Gavi has helped vaccinate an entire generation (over 1.1 billion children), preventing more than 18.8 million future deaths and halving child mortality rates in 78 low-income countries. Gavi plays a key role in improving global health security by funding global stockpiles of Ebola, cholera, meningococcus and yellow fever vaccines, as well as supporting the health system. After 20 years of progress, Gavi is currently focusing on protecting zero-dose children who have not even received one vaccine shot. The Vaccine Alliance employs innovative finance and the latest technology from drones to biometric authentication to save lives, prevent outbreaks, prevent outbreaks before they spread, and help the path to self-sufficiency. For more information, please visit www.gavi.org. Please connect via Facebook or Twitter.
