Measles deaths drop 74 per cent worldwide: WHO

Two-thirds of the global reduction took place in Africa, where the number of deaths dropped by 89 per cent, it said.

The number of deaths in the eastern Mediterranean region, which includes Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Sudan, dropped by 90 per cent during the same period, from 96,000 to 10,000.

Progress was more limited in this South-East Asia region where mortality dropped by a modest 42 per cent due to the late launch of a large-scale vaccination campaign in India, where two-thirds of global measles deaths occur.

Measles is a highly contagious disease characterised by high fever and the eruption of small red spots, which kills about one person for every 1,000 infections.