Gaps in coverage of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles are having significant impacts on global public health. Measles is a humanitarian issue, and its unwelcome reappearance in Canada is a reminder of its importance.

As a medical organization, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is no stranger to measles, which has long been a serious and ongoing concern in many places where MSF operates. However, new challenges, such as the disruption of health systems caused by COVID-19, have underscored the importance of measles as a public health concern. A recent surge in cases in countries such as Canada from which it had largely disappeared has helped draw new attention to this old disease.

Experts providing advice to MSF and advocating toward Canadian public health officials on emerging health threats have seen for years the serious impacts of measles in humanitarian crises, and the looming risk to Canadian and global public health. It is hoped that renewed attention to the risk and consequences of measles outbreaks in Canada will extend to ensuring the resources necessary to tackle measles are made available everywhere they are needed.

In 2024, measles has provided Canada with an unwelcome blast from the past, with more cases so far than in all of 2023, spread across multiple provinces.