These 4 African countries have the highest number of measles cases

Africa is currently experiencing a measles outbreak.

New World Health Organization (WHO) statistics show that there has been a 700 per cent increase in measles cases across the continent. This is within the first three months of 2019 compared to the same period last year.

The rest of the world is not left out as confirmed measles cases have risen to 300 per cent. So far, there have been 112,163 reported measles cases in 170 countries. There were only 28,124 cases in 163 countries during this same period last year.

Madagascar has been hit the most. It is currently the most affected area in Africa and the rest of the world.

Here are the four African countries with the highest number of measles cases, according to WHO:

Madagascar

WHO reports that this East African country has reported 46,187 confirmed cases between January and April. Last year, there were only 27 cases within this same period. About 800 people have been killed by this disease since September.

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Nigeria

From January to April, there have been 3813 confirmed measles cases in Nigeria. This is better than last year which had 4379 reported cases.

Chad

There are 2862 confirmed cases of measles in Q1 2019. This Central African country has experienced the second-highest measles outbreak on the continent. During the same period in 2018, there were only 18 cases of measles.

The Democratic Republic of Congo

Last year, there were 2179 reports of measles. This has reduced to 1414.

WHO measles data (statista) Pulse Nigeria

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African countries with the fastest spread of measles

Countries all over the world are experiencing an increase in measles. Even those with vaccinations have been affected.

"Spikes in case numbers have also occurred in countries with high overall vaccination coverage, including the United States of America as well as Israel, Thailand, and Tunisia, as the disease has spread fast among clusters of unvaccinated people," WHO reports.

Madagascar and Chad are not the only countries in Africa experiencing a spike in measles.

Cameroon and Niger have also had a surge in cases of this disease within the first four months of 2019.

Here are the number of measles cases from 2017 to 2018 in these four countries: