MORE than 140,000 people died from measles last year, most of them under-fives, figures show.

The “unprecedented” global “crisis” is set to enter its third year, with no sign of improvement.

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Parents were urged to vaccinate kids where the treatments are available.

Unicef said poor vaccination coverage had led to “devastating” outbreaks in countries that had eliminated the disease.

The report, by the World Health Organisation and US experts, said cases more than doubled in 2018 compared with 2017, and were rising still.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Madagascar, Somalia and Ukraine accounted for half of last year’s cases.

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The UK lost its measles-free status in August.

Dr Charlie Weller, head of vaccines at Wellcome in London, said: "It is a tragedy that so many children are dying from measles and that we are seeing a rise in cases in so many countries.

"We have a safe and effective measles vaccine that has saved millions of lives to date and is now available to record numbers of children."

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