RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

02 November 2026

Vaccination rates dropped after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted public-health programmes and their funding.

Children in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are less likely to receive two doses of measles vaccine than are children in other parts of the world. Credit: Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty

Measles cases in the world’s children have been climbing since 2020, reversing a decades-long decline, according to a global study of measles infections, deaths and vaccine rates 1 . The study found that nearly 16 million children under the age of five caught measles in 2023, of whom 118,000 died.

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