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High-level side event at the 36th Ordinary Session of the au assembly of Heads of State and Government [1]

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Date: 2023-05 

OVERVIEW

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused deepfelt devastation to lives and livelihoods. Health systems have come under enormous pressure and essential health services extensively disrupted. Routine childhood immunization was among the key services that suffered huge interruptions, resulting in outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.

In 2021, the world saw the worst continued decline in routine immunization in 30 years. Within the African continent this has led to increasing outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases. For example, 18 countries in the African region have reported a measles outbreak in 2022, including 5 out of the 9 priority countries. New polio cases have not only re-emerged in African countries2 that had not experienced the virus in decades but has also crossed borders to the United Kingdom, the United States and Israel; sending a message that neglecting routine immunization puts children and communities everywhere at risk of epidemics of vaccine-preventable diseases.

As countries progressively restore essential services, it is critical to not only revamp the services to pre-pandemic levels, but to speed up the progress towards the 2030 global Immunization Agenda of ensuring that everyone, everywhere, at every age fully benefits from vaccines to improve health and well-being.

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[1] Url: https://www.afro.who.int/media-centre/events/high-level-side-event-36th-ordinary-session-au-assembly-heads-state-and

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