Sustaining measles and rubella elimination through the Regional Monitoring and Re-Verification Commission in the Americas
The elimination of endemic rubella and measles transmission in the Region of the Americas was verified by the Pan American Health Organization’s (PAHO) Regional Verification Commission in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Upon achieving this success, this Commission was disbanded. Shortly afterwards, the...
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Pan American Health Organization
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública |
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| Online Access: | https://iris.paho.org/handle/10665.2/62116 |
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| author | Jon K. Andrus Jose I. Santos Tracy Evans Gilbert Marilda Siqueira Angela Gentile Jorge Boshell Susan Reef |
| author_facet | Jon K. Andrus Jose I. Santos Tracy Evans Gilbert Marilda Siqueira Angela Gentile Jorge Boshell Susan Reef |
| author_sort | Jon K. Andrus |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The elimination of endemic rubella and measles transmission in the Region of the Americas was verified by the Pan American Health Organization’s (PAHO) Regional Verification Commission in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Upon achieving this success, this Commission was disbanded. Shortly afterwards, the Region faced challenges in the post-elimination era, notably responding to and stopping transmission of imported measles cases. As a result, Brazil and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) lost their measles-free status in February 2019 and July 2018, respectively. These events spurred PAHO to form the Measles and Rubella Elimination Regional Monitoring and Re-Verification Commission (MRE-RVC) focused on re-verifying these two countries and providing intensive evaluations of all countries in their efforts to sustain elimination. The MRE-RVC was tasked with advocacy to help revitalize the necessary political commitment to provide sufficient resources to sustain measles and rubella elimination in the Americas. Maintaining measles and rubella elimination in the Region is important, despite the challenges such as the global circulation of measles and rubella viruses elsewhere. This paper outlines the activities of the MRE-RVC to address the challenges and the lessons learnt, and provides insight on sustaining the gains. The main reasons to sustain efforts are: measles vaccine saves more lives than any other vaccine; congenital rubella syndrome is still the leading cause of infectious disease birth defects in the world; and measles vaccination performance remains an indicator of national capacity to maintain health security and a timely response to future infectious disease threats. A global target for measles and rubella elimination is crucial. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-38924cf276bb40debb8625a8c047bc0f |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1020-4989 1680-5348 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Pan American Health Organization |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública |
| spelling | doaj-art-38924cf276bb40debb8625a8c047bc0f2025-08-20T02:36:15ZengPan American Health OrganizationRevista Panamericana de Salud Pública1020-49891680-53482024-12-0148931910.26633/RPSP.2024.93rpspSustaining measles and rubella elimination through the Regional Monitoring and Re-Verification Commission in the AmericasJon K. Andrus0Jose I. Santos1Tracy Evans Gilbert2Marilda Siqueira3Angela Gentile4Jorge Boshell5Susan Reef6Department of Global Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., United States of America.School of Medicine, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico.University of West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica.FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.Hospital de Niños R. Gutiérrez, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.Instituto Nacional de Salud, Bogotá, Colombia.Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.The elimination of endemic rubella and measles transmission in the Region of the Americas was verified by the Pan American Health Organization’s (PAHO) Regional Verification Commission in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Upon achieving this success, this Commission was disbanded. Shortly afterwards, the Region faced challenges in the post-elimination era, notably responding to and stopping transmission of imported measles cases. As a result, Brazil and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) lost their measles-free status in February 2019 and July 2018, respectively. These events spurred PAHO to form the Measles and Rubella Elimination Regional Monitoring and Re-Verification Commission (MRE-RVC) focused on re-verifying these two countries and providing intensive evaluations of all countries in their efforts to sustain elimination. The MRE-RVC was tasked with advocacy to help revitalize the necessary political commitment to provide sufficient resources to sustain measles and rubella elimination in the Americas. Maintaining measles and rubella elimination in the Region is important, despite the challenges such as the global circulation of measles and rubella viruses elsewhere. This paper outlines the activities of the MRE-RVC to address the challenges and the lessons learnt, and provides insight on sustaining the gains. The main reasons to sustain efforts are: measles vaccine saves more lives than any other vaccine; congenital rubella syndrome is still the leading cause of infectious disease birth defects in the world; and measles vaccination performance remains an indicator of national capacity to maintain health security and a timely response to future infectious disease threats. A global target for measles and rubella elimination is crucial.https://iris.paho.org/handle/10665.2/62116measlesrubellarubella syndrome, congenitalvaccinationamericas |
| spellingShingle | Jon K. Andrus Jose I. Santos Tracy Evans Gilbert Marilda Siqueira Angela Gentile Jorge Boshell Susan Reef Sustaining measles and rubella elimination through the Regional Monitoring and Re-Verification Commission in the Americas Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública measles rubella rubella syndrome, congenital vaccination americas |
| title | Sustaining measles and rubella elimination through the Regional Monitoring and Re-Verification Commission in the Americas |
| title_full | Sustaining measles and rubella elimination through the Regional Monitoring and Re-Verification Commission in the Americas |
| title_fullStr | Sustaining measles and rubella elimination through the Regional Monitoring and Re-Verification Commission in the Americas |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sustaining measles and rubella elimination through the Regional Monitoring and Re-Verification Commission in the Americas |
| title_short | Sustaining measles and rubella elimination through the Regional Monitoring and Re-Verification Commission in the Americas |
| title_sort | sustaining measles and rubella elimination through the regional monitoring and re verification commission in the americas |
| topic | measles rubella rubella syndrome, congenital vaccination americas |
| url | https://iris.paho.org/handle/10665.2/62116 |
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