UN warns vaccine-preventable diseases on the rise globally

A child reacts as a health ministry officials administers Measles-Rubella vaccination on her at Daraja Mbili village in Kisii on June 26, 2021. [File, Standard]

Outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, meningitis, and yellow fever are on the rise globally amid misinformation and cuts to international aid, the United Nations and the Gavi vaccine alliance warned Wednesday.

"Vaccines have saved more than 150 million lives over the past five decades," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. "Funding cuts to global health have put these hard-won gains in jeopardy."