Lesotho advances toward measles and rubella elimination
Summary and headline written by AI from the source article. How we work
From 2011 to 2025, health officials in Lesotho, a country in southern Africa, reviewed data on vaccinations and disease cases to measure progress toward eliminating measles and rubella.
Lesotho maintained high rates of first-dose measles vaccinations, generally above 90%, over the period, though it did not consistently reach the 95% goal needed for elimination. Second-dose measles vaccination coverage started at 80% in 2011 and 2012 but decreased in later years.
Lesotho largely met surveillance standards by tracking illnesses with fever and rash and by ensuring that most districts reported suspected measles cases. Between 2011 and 2015, the country recorded fewer than one measles case per million people. However, rubella cases fluctuated between 33.4 and 142.3 per million people between 2012 and 2014. After introducing the measles-rubella vaccine in 2017, Lesotho saw a significant reduction in rubella cases.
To continue improving, officials recommend strengthening second-dose vaccinations, increasing public demand for vaccines during campaigns, improving the accuracy of population data used to calculate coverage rates, and tracking the types of measles and rubella viruses found in cases.
