The number of deaths from measles has fallen by 79 per cent worldwide since 2000, thanks mainly to mass vaccination campaigns, but nearly 400 children still die from the disease every day, global health experts said.

In a report on global efforts to “make measles history”, the UN children’s fund, the World Health Organisation and other bodies said the fight was being hampered not by a lack of tools or knowledge, but a lack of political will to get every child immunised against the highly infectious disease.

Mass measles vaccination campaigns and a global increase in routine vaccine coverage saved an estimated 20.3 million young lives between 2000 and 2015, the report said.

Fight being hampered by lack of political will

But coverage is patchy, and in some countries the majority of children are not vaccinated. In 2015, around 20 million babies missed their measles shots and an estimated 134,000 children died from the disease.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan account for half of the unvaccinated babies and 75 per cent of the measles deaths.

Measles is a highly contagious virus that spreads through direct contact and through the air. It is one of the biggest killers of children worldwide, but can be prevented with two doses of a widely available and inexpensive vaccine.

According to the report, published by Unicef, the WHO, the Gavi vaccines alliance and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, outbreaks of measles in various countries – caused by gaps in immunisation – are still a major problem.

Seth Berkley, Gavi’s chief executive, urged governments to recognise the threat of “one of the world’s most deadly vaccine-preventable childhood killers” and act to contain it.

In 2015, large outbreaks were reported in Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, the report said. The epidemics in Germany and Mongolia affected older people, highlighting the need to vaccinate young adults who missed out on measles jabs.