Africa is seeing an increase in measles and other diseases as the pandemic disrupts vaccines

Medical staff looking out a window at Kenya National Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, March 5, 2021. Ben Curtis / Associated Press

Outbreaks of preventable disease have been reported in Africa as a result of disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.

The continent recorded a 400 percent increase in measles to more than 17,000 cases between January and March, compared to the same period last year, said Dr. Benido Impuma, a WHO expert in Africa, at a press briefing.

Two years of interruption from the coronavirus pandemic had “significant consequences for the provision of routine health services, with immunization severely affected” in many countries, he said.

Twenty-four countries confirmed polio outbreaks last year, four times more than in 2020. Last year, 13 countries reported new outbreaks of yellow fever, rising from nine in 2020 and three in 2019, according to the WHO. .

“The increase in outbreaks of other vaccine-preventable diseases is a warning sign,” said Dr Matshidiso Moetti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “As Africa works hard to beat COVID-19, we must not forget other health threats. Health systems can be severely affected not only by COVID-19 but also by other diseases.

The continent, with a population of 1.3 billion, has reported 11.4 million cases of COVID-19, including 252,000 deaths, according to the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Although the virus has been on the decline since January, the WHO said on Thursday it was on the rise due to doubling levels of infection in South Africa, the African country hardest hit by the pandemic.

Impuma, a WHO official, said that after the pandemic, the agency was seeking to support countries to expand COVID-19 vaccinations as well as routine immunization services.

“The same is true for routine immunization, as it is for COVID,” said Helen Rees, executive director of the Institute for Reproductive Health and HIV at the University of the Windwatersrand in South Africa. “There is a direct health … problem, but it has the opposite effect in terms of adverse effects on poor development and the contribution to poverty, which is absolutely critical for our region.”

Our morning and evening newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a brief summary of the most important headlines of the day. Register today.