GENEVA, July 15 (Reuters) - Nearly 23 million children missed out on routine vaccinations last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the highest number in more than a decade, fuelling outbreaks of measles, polio and other preventable diseases, U.N. agencies said on Thursday.
Measles, one of the world's most contagious diseases, can be fatal to children under the age of five, especially in African and Asian countries with weak health systems, according to the World Health Organization. Polio can cripple a child for life.
The gap in global vaccination coverage has set up a "perfect storm", leaving more children vulnerable to infectious pathogens just as many countries ease COVID-19 restrictions, the WHO and U.N. Children's Fund said in an annual report.
ZVIMBA, Zimbabwe (AP) — For Pelagia Bvukura, who lives in a rural part of north-central Zimbabwe, COVID-19 had always been a “city disease,” affecting those in the capital, Harare, or other, distant big towns.
Hospital wards across Uganda are filling with COVID-19 patients as the country faces an aggressive surge in cases. One of the biggest issues have: a serious shortage of oxygen.
Recent Comments