Vaccine-preventable diseases surge in crisis-hit Venezuela

Vaccine-preventable diseases have not just returned but surged in crisis-hit Venezuela, according to new research presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Amsterdam, Netherlands (13-16 April). The study is by Dr. Adriana Tami (University Medical Center Groningen, Netherlands, and University of Carabobo, Venezuela) and Dr. Alberto Paniz-Mondolfi (IDB Biomedical Research Institute, Barquisimeto, Venezuela), and colleagues. Venezuela has plunged into a humanitarian, economic and health crisis of extraordinary proportions. This complex situation has progressed into a general collapse of Venezuela’s health system, the dismantling of structures at the institutional, social and economic level affecting the life and wellbeing of the entire population. Some two-thirds of the Venezuelan population currently live in extreme poverty, amid escalating violence. The country’s crumbling healthcare infrastructure is now more typical of conflict zones or war-torn nations. More than 280,000 children are now perceived to be at risk of death from...