The world's biggest vaccination comeback: Sudan's child coverage leapt further in one year than any country's

It is the largest rise in vaccination coverage recorded anywhere in the world last year. According to WHO and UNICEF estimates highlighted by UNICEF Sudan in September, the share of Sudanese children receiving the third dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine — the benchmark dose that shows a child is fully reached by the system — climbed from 39% in 2024 to 71% in 2025. First-dose coverage rose by 35 percentage points, and first-dose measles coverage rose from 46% to 68%. Even as the country endures a war, health teams expanded access session by session and village by village, and the numbers moved more in a single year than in any other nation. WHO and UNICEF point to the result as evidence of what becomes possible the moment access to basic health services improves, even in the hardest circumstances.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: institutional program