Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Feb 7:48:4.
doi: 10.1186/s41182-020-0191-4. eCollection 2020.

Reported measles cases, measles-related deaths and measles vaccination coverage in Myanmar from 2014 to 2018

Aye Mya Chan Thar  1 , Khin Thet Wai  2 , Anthony D Harries  3   4 , Kyaw Lwin Show  2 , Lei Lei Mon  5 , Htar Htar Lin  1
Affiliations

Reported measles cases, measles-related deaths and measles vaccination coverage in Myanmar from 2014 to 2018

Aye Mya Chan Thar et al. Trop Med Health. .

Abstract

Background: There is a global resurgence of measles, consequent upon worldwide stagnating measles vaccination coverage. The study aim was to document trends and characteristics of reported cases of measles, measles-related deaths, and measles vaccination coverage (MCV1-first dose of measles-containing vaccine and MCV2-second dose of measles-containing vaccine) at national and sub-national level in Myanmar over a five year period between 2014 and 2018.

Methods: This was a descriptive study using routine data collected and submitted to the Expanded Programme on Immunization.

Results: Between 2014 and 2018, there were 2673 measles cases of which 2272 (85%) occurred in 2017 and 2018. Five adjacent regions in lower Myanmar were the most affected: in 2017 and 2018, these regions reported 1647 (73%) of the 2272 measles cases in the country. Overall, 73% of measles cases were laboratory confirmed, 21% were epidemiologically linked, and 6% were clinically compatible (clinical diagnosis only), with more laboratory confirmed cases in recent years. Annual measles-related deaths were either zero or one except in 2016 when there were 21 deaths, all occurring in one remote village. In the recent years, the most commonly affected age groups were 0-8 months, 9 months to 4 years, and ≥ 15 years. Among 1907 measles cases with known vaccination status, only 22% had been vaccinated and 70% of those had only received one dose of vaccine. Annual MCV1 coverage nationally varied from 83 to 93% while annual MCV2 coverage nationally varied from 78 to 87%, with no clear trends over the years. Between 2014 and 2018, a high proportion of the 330 townships had MCV coverage < 95%. Over 80% of measles cases were reported from townships that had MCV coverage < 95%.

Conclusion: There have been a large number of measles cases in recent years associated with sub-optimal measles vaccine coverage. Myanmar has already conducted supplemental immunization activities in October and November, 2019. Myanmar also needs to improve routine immunization services and targeted responses to measles outbreaks.

Keywords: Measles cases; Measles containing vaccine 1—MCV1; Measles containing vaccine 2—MCV2; Measles deaths; Measles vaccination coverage; Myanmar; SORT IT.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Map of Myanmar showing states and regions
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Annual and monthly trends of all reported measles cases in Myanmar: 2014–2018
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Geospatial distribution of reported measles cases in Myanmar: 2014–2018
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Geospatial distribution of reported measles cases in Myanmar in 2017 and 2018. a Absolute number of cases and number of cases per million population in 2017. b Absolute number of cases and number of cases per million population in 2018
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Moss WJ. Measles. Lancet. 2017;390:2490–2502. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31463-0. - DOI - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization Measles vaccines: WHO position paper – April 2017. WHO Wkly Epidemiol Rec. 2017;92:205–227. - PubMed
    1. Patel MK, Gacic-Dobo M, Strebel PM, et al. Progress towards regional measles elimination – worldwide, 2000-2015. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2016;65:1228–1233. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6544a6. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Simons E, Ferrari M, Fricks J, et al. Assessment of the 2010 global measles mortality reduction goal: results from a model of surveillance data. Lancet. 2012;379:2173–2178. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60522-4. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Global Vaccine Action Plan 2011–2020. Available: https://www.who.int/immunization/global_vaccine_action_plan/GVAP_doc_201.... (Accessed 16th September 2019).

LinkOut - more resources