Feasibility assessment of measles and rubella eradication

Abstract

This report addresses the epidemiological aspects and feasibility of measles and rubella eradication and the potential resource requirements in response to the request of the Director-General at the Seventieth World Health Assembly held on May 31, 2017. A guiding principle is that the path toward measles and rubella eradication should serve to strengthen primary health care, promote universal health coverage, and be a pathfinder for new vision and strategy for immunization over the next decade as laid out in the Immunization Agenda 2030. Specifically, this report: 1) highlights the importance of measles and rubella as global health priorities; 2) reviews the current global measles and rubella situation; 3) summarizes prior assessments of the feasibility of measles and rubella eradication; 4) assesses the progress and challenges in achieving regional measles and rubella elimination; 5) assesses additional considerations for measles and rubella eradication, including the results of modelling and economic analyses; 6) assesses the implications of establishing a measles and rubella eradication goal and the process for setting an eradication target date; 7) proposes a framework for determining preconditions for setting a target date for measles and rubella eradication and how these preconditions should be understood and used; and 8) concludes with recommendations endorsed by SAGE.

Keywords: Elimination; Eradication; Measles; Rubella; World Health Organization.