Indonesia Measles Immunization Program Monitoring: An Analysis of 5 Years Measles Surveillance Data

Abstract

Background: Measles remains a leading cause of death among young children. Maintaining high coverage of routine immunization should be a top priority to achieve the elimination target in 2020. This study aims to determine the progress of the national measles immunization program.

Method: We analyzed the measles surveillance data from January 2008 to December 2013. A measles case is a clinical measles case with a positive measles virus infection through a serology test (measles IgM positive) and no measles vaccination 4-6 weeks before the rash appears.

Results: We found that 115,105 measles cases were reported. During that period, a series of measles immunization campaigns were conducted from 2009 – to 2011. There was a decrease in laboratory-confirmed measles cases, from 10 per 100,000 population in 2008 to 4.6 in 2013. From 2010 to 2013, the proportion of suspect measles cases tested in the laboratory increased from 16 to 37% of the total suspect cases. Among those tested specimens, we found the increasing number ranged from 12 to 26% measles positive and 24 to 44% rubella positive.

Conclusion: These findings indicate that the measles immunization program in Indonesia has effectively reduced the number of measles cases.