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Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan: Epidemic 2023 - DREF Final Report (MDRKG018)

Attachments

Description of the Event

Date when the trigger was met

14-08-2023

What happened, where and when?

According to the Republican Center for Immunoprophylaxis of the Ministry of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic, since the beginning of 2023, the epidemiological situation in the country for measles and rubella has deteriorated. The first cases were reported in the first epidemiological week in Bishkek city and Chui regions, and, starting from the eighth epidemiological week, it has spread to Osh city and Osh region. Then it has spread to an additional 34 districts in 5 regions.

15,237 cases of measles and 11 deaths were reported between January 2023 and April 2024. The incidence rate of measles per 1 million population is 1402.60, which is one of the highest in the world (WHO). The country reported 11 cases of rubella in the period between May 2022 and April 2023, the fourth highest in the WHO Europe region during this period.

When the current DREF operation started (end of August 2023), there were 3,289 cases of measles reported since the beginning of 2023. This number increased to 7028 cases by the end of 2023, with the highest number of cases registered in Bishkek with 2,294 cases; JalalAbad region (1,823 cases); Chui (1,214 cases), Osh region (878 cases) and Osh city (417 cases). This was followed by Batken region (123 cases), Talas region (106 cases), Issyk-Kul region (93 cases) and Naryn region (80 cases). In 2023, 9 fatal cases were registered (4 cases in Bishkek city, 3 cases in Chui region, 1 case in Jalal-Abad region and 1 case in Batken region).

By the end of the operation, as of 27 February 2024, a total of 4,848 suspected measles and rubella cases were registered, 4,078 cases were classified as measles, of which 1,097 were laboratory confirmed, 1,183 were clinically confirmed and 1,798 were epidemiologically related cases.

Reduced childhood vaccination coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic played a key role in the increase of measles incidence in Kyrgyzstan. While the vaccine coverage rates have increased in the past two years, they remain below the pre-pandemic levels. In 2022, the coverage rate with the first dose of measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR) was 94.4%, and the coverage rate with the second dose of MMR was 94.5%. As the result of the supplementary immunization campaigns during 2023, the coverage of the first dose of MMR vaccinations increased to (96.4%) and the second dose to 96% by the end of 2023. The Republican Center for Immunoprophylaxis (RCI) reports a growing number of vaccination refusals since 2016. According to RCI, as of 26 February 2024, 24,218 refusal forms have been registered with health facilities across the county, from which 70% have been reported in the Chui region and Bishkek city (in those locations 34.3% or a third of the country’s population is concentrated).