Regional reports for the subnational monitoring of measles elimination in Italy and the identification of local barriers to the attainment of the elimination goal.

Although most countries in the WHO European Region were verified in 2017 as having interrupted endemic measles transmission, nine countries were still endemic. Among these, Italy accounted for the second highest number of measles cases reported in Europe in 2017. The elimination of measles is verified at national level by each country's National Verification Committee (NVC) through the production of an Annual Status Update (ASU).

[The elimination of measles and rubella in Italy].

Despite the WHO target for measles and rubella elimination in 2015, outbreaks still occur in all WHO Regions. After a description of the epidemiological situation of measles and rubella worldwide and especially in Europe, this paper aims to provide a detailed analysis of the current epidemiological context of Italy. The surge in the number of measles cases since the beginning of 2017, together with vaccination coverage still far from the 95% target, requires priority actions to be taken to achieve the elimination goals.