At least 922 children and young adults have died of measles in Madagascar since October, despite a huge emergency vaccination programme, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
The number of deaths is based on official numbers, but these are likely to be very incomplete, as is the current total of infections, at 66,000.
In 2017 only 58 percent of the population had been vaccinated against measles. The lack of a big outbreak since 2003 also means many have had no chance to develop immunity.
An emergency response has vaccinated 2.2 million of the 26 million population so far. Some of those had previously been vaccinated but had only received one shot, and so were given the more standard second, "booster" jab.
The number of deaths is based on official numbers, but these are likely to be very incomplete, as is the current total of infections, at 66,000.
In 2017 only 58 percent of the population had been vaccinated against measles. The lack of a big outbreak since 2003 also means many have had no chance to develop immunity.
An emergency response has vaccinated 2.2 million of the 26 million population so far. Some of those had previously been vaccinated but had only received one shot, and so were given the more standard second, "booster" jab.
Madagascar has Africa's highest children's malnutrition rate, at 47 percent. The condition can increase the risk of serious complications and death from measles infection, the WHO says.
The disease can also leave children vulnerable to potentially fatal pneumonia or diarrhoeal diseases months later, said Katherine O'Brien, WHO director of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals.
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