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Amid an increase in global measles outbreaks and mortalities, Gavi is working with governments, communities, and partners to reach up to 100 million children with Measles and Rubella Vaccines in 2024 through catch-up and follow-up campaigns.

Countries expected to roll out the campaigns in 2024 include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Côte d'Ivoire, Eritrea, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kyrgyzstan, Lao PDR, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nepal, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, and Zambia.

Timely, high coverage campaigns reaching un- and under-immunised children are key to closing growing immunity gaps, particularly in fragile and conflict settings, says the Vaccine Alliance, as Gavi is also known. The ambitious target comes at a time when there has been an alarming rise in cases, outbreaks and mortalities following pandemic-related drops in vaccine coverage.

Globally, routine immunisation coverage for the first dose of Measles Containing Vaccine (MCV1) is still 2 percentage points below pre-pandemic levels and recent data published by WHO-CDC shows that from December 2022 to November 2023, 51 countries experienced large or disruptive measles outbreaks, compared with 33 countries in 2022.