Tenth Meeting of the WHO South-East Asia Regional Verification Commission for Measles and Rubella Elimination

Overview

The Regional Verification Commission for measles and rubella (MR) elimination for the WHO South-East Asia Region (SEA RVC) was established by the WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia in March 2016 to verify the progress towards MR elimination and rubella/congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) control in the Region.

The Tenth Meeting of the SEA RVC was held virtually between 22–24 July 2025 with key objective to review and verify progress made towards measles and rubella elimination by the countries of the WHO South-East Asia Region based on the Framework for Verification of Measles and Rubella Elimination published in February 2020.

The country progress reports on measles and rubella elimination, submitted by the national verification committees (NVCs) of all ten Member States were reviewed. The country reports tracked the progress towards two essential criteria and five lines of evidence on measles and rubella elimination.

Based on careful review of the country reports and interactions with representatives of the NVCs of the countries, the Commission verified that rubella was eliminated in Nepal. The Commission also verified that measles elimination was sustained in Bhutan, DPR Korea, Maldives, and Timor-Leste and that rubella elimination was sustained in Bhutan, DPR Korea, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Timor-Leste. The Commission verified re-established transmission of measles in Sri Lanka and expressed appreciation of efforts made to contain the transmission. The Commission categorized Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand as “endemic” for measles transmission and categorized Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, and Thailand as endemic for rubella transmission.

The Commission acknowledged the significant progress made by several countries in the SEA Region towards the goal of achieving measles and rubella elimination with all countries at elimination mode but expressed concern about meeting the 2026 timeline in the absence of any urgent accelerated action. The Commission suggested urgent actions for endemic countries to stop transmission of measles and rubella in line with the 2026 Regional elimination goal. The Commission acknowledged the setback the program had due to the current global geo-political and reduced funding landscape and continued to urge the global community and partners to work towards the global goal and target date for measles and rubella elimination to garner political and resource commitment from the global community.

The Commission recognized the need for an independent external review of progress towards measles and rubella elimination by 2026 for any course correction required. The Commission also suggested several recommendations and actions for all countries to help develop evidence to verify elimination of measles and rubella and its sustenance.

This report outlines the objectives, main findings, country classifications, and recommendations approved at the Tenth SEA RVC Meeting, held virtually from 22–24 July 2025, to accelerate elimination efforts in the region.

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