Evaluation of WHO Measles Eradication Programme for the European Region of 53 Countries with Emphasis on Poland in the Years 2003–2014

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BACKGROUND: The vaccination programmes after the 2nd World War and the application of safe and effective vaccines were expected to eliminate infectious diseases within the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region. However, epidemiological indexes show isolated cases and local epidemiology outbreaks of viral measles, that draw attention to re-evaluate the effectiveness and obstacles of infectious disease eradication programmes. METHODOLOGY: This study analyses the available Polish governmental epidemiological data concerning the WHO European Region for the years 2003-2014 and evaluates the effectiveness of the WHO Measles Eradication Programme implementation, since 2001. Most of these epidemiological data are either available in Polish or scattered in governmental reports only. Thus, we have compiled selected available data to present an overview focusing on Poland's measles epidemiological situation. RESULTS: The analysis of the available data clearly shows that infection cases of measles are on the rise in the European Region or are steady at a relatively high level depending on the country. The critical factors to prevent measles are maintaining a vaccination level at a minimum of 95% using two doses of MMR, adequate infection detection, rapid reporting, controlling and enforcing identification, and mass media campaigns to inform societies about the necessity of measles vaccination and the safety of using MMR. CONCLUSIONS: Besides the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemics, measles is possibly the most dominating infectious disease on the rise in the European Region, including Poland. The eradication programme modifications to increase its effectiveness are of upmost importance, as measles is one of the most infectious diseases with acute syndromes, especially affecting children.

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