Because of the Houthi incitement against vaccines.. 26 thousand cases of measles in Yemen

A recent UN report stated that measles cases during the first half of this year witnessed a significant increase in Yemen, after recording nearly 26,000 cases, most of them in Yemen. Houthi-controlled areas.

The report of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said in a report on the latest humanitarian developments in Yemen: “Yemen is witnessing an outbreak of vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles. From the beginning of 2023 until June 22, a total of 25,935 suspected measles cases were reported, including 1,406 laboratory-confirmed cases and 259 deaths in all governorates.”

The report added that this number represents more than 96% of the total cases reported throughout 2022.

He pointed out that 88% of the children who were reported to be suspected of having measles did not receive a single dose of the vaccine, while this situation could have been prevented if these children had received two or three doses of the measles vaccine.

The report indicated that the suspension of awareness and vaccination campaigns in areas controlled by the Houthi group, and its confinement to health centers since the beginning of this year, left thousands of children the most vulnerable, “and the reluctance to vaccinate due to the group’s intensive misinformation campaigns against vaccines, led to an increase in the spread of measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases.”

He emphasized that the coverage of routine vaccination decreased in 2023, including against measles, which decreased by 69% compared to the target at the end of April, as a total of 224,000 children only received their first dose of the measles vaccine, a decrease of 10% compared to the same period in 2022. In addition to the increase in malnutrition rates, all of this created the conditions for a greater and more severe measles outbreak, causing more deaths among children.