The outbreak of measles outbreaks due to insufficient vaccination coverage (Tayed Hamdi)

According to Tayeb Hamdi, measles, a serious viral disease, affected more than 10 million people worldwide in 2023 (20% more than in 2022) and killed more than 100,000, mostly infants and children. children under five years old. “The survivors of this disease have been victims of serious complications and lifelong after-effects including blindness and encephalitis, to name but a few,” recalls the expert who insists on the importance of vaccination. “An unvaccinated (zero dose) or incompletely vaccinated (one dose instead of two) child is at high risk of catching the disease. A population whose measles vaccination coverage is below 95% will experience explosions of measles outbreaks and epidemics on a continuous basis. » he affirms.

However, no region in Morocco currently reaches 95% coverage, which is due, according to Hamdi, to lax vaccination and epidemiological surveillance. “The in-depth analysis of the causes of this laxity, the adherence of families to catch-up programs, the mobilization of the services of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, the mobilization of all health professionals and the resumption of surveillance epidemiological in due form by the ministry, are essential conditions to protect our children, their lives and the entire population. »

How is measles transmitted and how is it recognized?

Measles is a “very very contagious” disease: a sick child can contaminate 16 to 20 other people around them through breathing, coughing, or sneezing, and indirectly through hands and surfaces soiled by the virus.
Symptoms include fever, runny nose, red eyes, cough, depression, irritability, and especially the appearance of a red rash all over the body.

How to protect yourself from it?

Vaccination is done with a first dose at the age of 9 months followed by a second dose a few months later.

“Vaccination is safe and effective and is the best way to prevent measles infection, illness and outbreaks. Measles vaccination alone saved 56 million lives worldwide between 2000 and 2021,” recalls Hamdi.

Children under 5 years old, adults over 30 years old, pregnant women, malnourished children, and people with diseases that weaken the immune system are the groups most vulnerable to measles.

Tayeb Hamdi concludes by insisting on the “need to seek on a Moroccan scale all the reasons behind this widespread under-vaccination and this relaxation of epidemiological surveillance, in a country known for having long been a champion of vaccination against target diseases among its children.”