In 2008, the measles technical advisory group for the WHO African Region recommended establishing pre-elimination goals to be achieved by 2012. The goals are to reduce the incidence of measles to <5 cases/1 000 000 population per year in all countries in the Region (28 countries achieved this in 2008) and to achieve a 98% reduction in estimated mortality from measles compared with mortality in 2000. To achieve these goals, the technical advisory group recommended that all 46 countries in the Region achieve the following targets: >90% national coverage of the first dose of measles-containing vaccine (MCV1), >80% coverage of MCV1 in all districts in a country, 95% coverage of MCV during supplementary immunization activities (SIAs) in all districts, and reporting of 2 cases of non-measles febrile rash illness per 100 000 population through national case-based surveillance. In addition, the advisory group recommended introducing a routine second dose of MCV (MCV2) in countries meeting specific criteria.

This report summarizes the progress made during 2009C2010 towards meeting the preelimination goals after a historically low incidence of measles cases was reported in 2008,2 and provides information on measles outbreaks occurring during the same period. Of the 46 countries in the Region, 12 (26%) had confirmed measles incidence <5 cases/1 000 000 population in 2010, and 28 (61%) reported a laboratory-confirmed outbreak during 2009C2010. The new measles outbreaks highlight the urgent need for renewed political will from governments and their partners to ensure that national multiyear vaccination plans, budgetary line-items and financial commitments exist for routine immunization services and measles-control activities. To assist countries in responding to measles outbreaks, WHO guidelines were published in 2009.3