Countries, including the United States, reduce funds for global health projects that save lives could endanger vaccination programs that protect children and adults from mortal diseases, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday.
The recent abrupt changes in the budgets and the ability of donors in global health have exercised severe tension in immunization programs, particularly in measles prevention efforts, at all levels, the UN Health Agency said.
Measles is a viral disease in the highly contagious air characterized by fever and a distinctive eruption, which remains a significant cause of death among children worldwide, according to WHO.
The best protection against measles is through measles, papers and rubella vaccine, since there is no specific treatment once a person is infected. WHO recommends two doses of the measles vaccine for all children.
The United States is currently fighting in one of the largest measles outbreaks it has seen in the last decade, with more than 300 cases since the end of January.
The outbreak has been fed by the decrease in vaccination rates in parts of the United States where parents have been falsely persuaded that such shots do more damage than well.
The setback in immunization has partly been the result of “the concerns that people have been related to erroneous information around the measles vaccine, [which] It is creating an environment where measles cases happen again in places around the world that have already eliminated measles, ”said Kate O’Brien, director of the WHO immunization department.
The United States Secretary of Health, Robert Kennedy JR, had initially minimized the news that a school -age child had died of measles in Texas, the first death of this type in a decade, calling for such ordinary outbreaks and not mentioning the role of vaccination to avoid measles.
He had also told parents that vaccination was a personal choice and urged them to consult with their doctors in their opinion article published in Fox News.
