Yehdego Tedros, Yhdego Tzeggai Kidanemaryam, Masresha Balcha, Gebreslassie Azmera, Katsande Reggis, Fussum Daniel, Lebo Emmaculate, Namboze Josephine
National Immunisation Program, Ministry of Health, Eritrea.
WHO Eritrea Country Office, Asmara, Eritrea.
Pan Afr Med J. 2020 Jan 3;35(Suppl 1):7. doi: 10.11604/pamj.supp.2020.35.1.19126. eCollection 2020.
The Expanded Program on Immunisation (EPI) has been operational in Eritrea since 1980. Eritrea has endorsed the resolution of the Regional Committee of the World Health Organisation African region, committing to a measles elimination goal for 2020 in the African Region. The country is implementing the recommended strategies.
We reviewed administrative coverage and WHO UNICEF coverage estimates for Diphtheria-Pertussis-Tetanus (DPT) and measles routine vaccination, as well as for measles supplemental immunization activities. We reviewed national surveillance performance and analyzed the epidemiological trends of measles as reported in the case-based surveillance database.
Eritrea has maintained more than 90% coverage with the first dose of measles vaccine at national level since 2001 and 88% MCV2 coverage from 2015 - 2017 according to the WHO-UNICEF coverage estimates. Since 2011, the country has not met the surveillance performance target of at least 80% districts reporting suspected measles cases with blood specimen. Measles incidence was between 16.8 - 24.7 cases per million population in the period 2015 - 2018. The mean and median age of confirmed measles cases was more than 10 years in 8 of the 14 years covered by the analysis. In 2017, Eritrea reported 1,199 cases of measles which differs significantly from the 185 suspected cases in the case based surveillance database for the same year. Eritrea has maintained high coverage for MCV1 and MCV2 and made progress towards measles elimination. However, the country has gaps in surveillance performance which may mask the true incidence of measles.
In order to attain elimination of measles, Eritrea needs to implement measures to improve surveillance quality, to conduct regular risk assessment and implement targeted measures to close immunity gaps. In addition, setting up a national committee for the verification of measles elimination will help the country document progress and also to highlight and advocate for addressing issues related to data quality and performance gaps.
自1980年以来，扩大免疫规划（EPI）已在厄立特里亚实施。厄立特里亚认可了世界卫生组织非洲区域委员会的决议，承诺在2020年实现非洲区域消除麻疹的目标。该国正在实施推荐的策略。
我们审查了白喉-百日咳-破伤风（DPT）和麻疹常规疫苗接种以及麻疹补充免疫活动的行政覆盖率和世卫组织/联合国儿童基金会覆盖率估计值。我们审查了国家监测绩效，并分析了基于病例的监测数据库中报告的麻疹流行病学趋势。
根据世卫组织-联合国儿童基金会的覆盖率估计，自2001年以来，厄立特里亚全国麻疹疫苗第一剂的覆盖率保持在90%以上，2015 - 2017年麻疹-风疹联合疫苗（MCV2）的覆盖率为88%。自2011年以来，该国未达到至少80%的地区报告有血标本的疑似麻疹病例的监测绩效目标。2015 - 2018年期间，麻疹发病率为每百万人口16.8 - 24.7例。在分析涵盖的14年中的8年里，确诊麻疹病例的平均年龄和中位数年龄超过10岁。2017年，厄立特里亚报告了1199例麻疹病例，与同年基于病例的监测数据库中的185例疑似病例有显著差异。厄立特里亚维持了麻疹-风疹联合疫苗第一剂（MCV1）和麻疹-风疹联合疫苗第二剂（MCV2）的高覆盖率，并在消除麻疹方面取得了进展。然而，该国在监测绩效方面存在差距，这可能掩盖了麻疹的真实发病率。
为了实现消除麻疹的目标，厄立特里亚需要采取措施提高监测质量，定期进行风险评估，并采取有针对性的措施缩小免疫差距。此外，设立一个国家麻疹消除核查委员会将有助于该国记录进展情况，并突出和倡导解决与数据质量和绩效差距相关的问题。
