Do you know how many kids in India are unvaccinated for measles?

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New Delhi: A study suggests that there are almost 2.9 million children in India who still remain without vaccination against measles.

Measles continues to take the lives of 90,000 people per year worldwide, according to reports.

In 2016, an estimated 90,000 people died from measles, an 84 per cent drop from more than 550,000 deaths in 2000.

This is the first time that global measles deaths have fallen below 100,000 per year, says a report by the World Health Organisation.

"Measles elimination will only be reached if measles vaccines reach every child, everywhere," Jean-Marie Okwo-Bele, Director at the World Health Organisation, said in a statement on Thursday.

Since 2000, an estimated 5.5 billion doses of measles-containing vaccines have been provided to children through routine immunisation services and mass vaccination campaigns, saving an estimated 20.4 million lives.

However, the world is still far from reaching regional measles elimination goals as 20.8 million children are still missing their first measles vaccine dose, the report said. 

More than half of these unvaccinated children live in six countries, namely Nigeria (3.3 million), India (2.9 million), Pakistan (2.0 million), Indonesia (1.2 million), Ethiopia (0.9 million), and Democratic Republic of the Congo (0.7 million). 

"However we cannot afford to be complacent (as) too many children are still missing out on lifesaving vaccines. To reach these children and set ourselves on a realistic road to measles elimination we need to dramatically improve routine immunisation backed by strong health systems," noted Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. 

(With IANS inputs)