Delivering Measles Vaccines on Horseback

Declining vaccination rates are leaving communities vulnerable to the spread of debilitating, preventable diseases like measles. Dedicated health workers go the distance to protect children's health.

For more than 36 years, UNICEF-supported medical nurse Jiydegul Rysbaeva has traveled on horseback across the Jon-Bulak Valley in Kyrgyzstan, delivering lifesaving vaccines and care to children and families on 41 remote farmsteads across the region. "We can hear wolves howling nearby," she says. "It's terrifying."

Educating parents about the safety and efficacy of vaccines is a crucial part of her job. "In the past, a couple of parents hesitated, but we explained to them: 'Your child will get sick. If they catch measles, they could die,' " says Rysbaeva.

The grandmother of eight makes sure her own family members never miss a vaccination. "If just one child gets measles, that child contacts many others," she says. "That's why we need to vaccinate kids."

In 2024, Europe and Central Asia saw the highest number of measles cases in more than 25 years

Measles is an extremely contagious, airborne virus: for every person who has measles, another 12 to 18 people will be infected. It's around 12 times more contagious than influenza, six times as contagious as Ebola and twice as contagious as COVID-19 and chicken pox.

As well as hospitalization and death caused by complications — including pneumonia, encephalitis, diarrhea and dehydration — measles can cause long-term, debilitating health complications such as cognitive impairment or blindness. It can also damage the immune system by “erasing” its memory of how to fight infections, leaving measles survivors vulnerable to other diseases and death.

A backslide in immunization coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic

A UNICEF report published earlier this month sounded the alarm about a surge in the number of measles cases in Europe and Central Asia following a backslide in immunization coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some 127,352 cases were reported in 53 countries across the region in 2024. Children under 5 accounted for 43 percent — more than 54,000 — of reported cases. More than half of all people — nearly 74,000 — who contracted measles in 2024 required hospitalization.

In 2023, 500,000 children across the 53 countries in Europe and Central Asia missed the first dose of the measles vaccine. Measles cases in the region skyrocketed by more than 3,000 percent that year, reaching 30,601 confirmed cases by early December — up from 909 cases in 2022. 

UNICEF is calling for urgent government action including sustained investment in health care workers

“Measles cases across Europe and Central Asia have soared over the past two years — pointing to gaps in immunization coverage,” Regina De Dominicis, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia said on March 14. “To protect children from this deadly and debilitating disease, we need urgent government action including sustained investment in health care workers.”