immigrants: potential menace for measles elimination target in iran

Measles is a highly contagious disease. by the end of 2013, 84% of children had received at least a single dose of measles vaccine by their second birthday, and 148 countries had included a second dose as part of routine immunization. in 2002, the iranian ministry of health and medical education developed a comprehensive strategy to eliminate measles including mass immunization caign for people aged 525 years (1). suburban areas where residents usually are nomads or migrants with low socioeconomic status (ses), pose a serious threat to the success of any prevention program(2) . there are a huge yet unknown number of iranian immigrants and illegal refugees living in suburbs of large cities in iran, where low participation of families in vaccination services might be a challenge (3). in this report, we try to highlight the importance of migrants and immigrants on the success of measles vaccination programs.