How close are we to wiping out rubella worldwide?

Rubella is a mild illness for most people, but if a pregnant woman catches it, it can be devastating for her baby, causing deafness, blindness, and heart defects. A look at nearly two decades of data from 194 countries shows where we stand in the fight to end this threat. The good news is that 168 countries—87% of those studied—now include rubella vaccine in their routine childhood shots. This protects millions of infants. The tougher challenge is stopping the virus from circulating altogether. So far, only 81 countries (42%) have managed to eliminate local transmission. This map is uneven, meaning the danger of congenital rubella syndrome hasn't disappeared. The data doesn't tell us why some countries succeed while others lag, or what specific hurdles remain. It simply shows that while protection is widespread, true elimination is a work in progress for most of the world.