UNICEF, the United Nations children's organization, has warned of a decline in child immunization in Latin America and the Caribbean.

According to the UN agency, in the last decade the region has gone from having one of the highest immunization rates in the world to one of the lowest.

UNICEF's regional director, Garry Conille, says that this "is one of the most serious crises the continent has seen in almost 30 years".

The Latin American average vaccination rate for children is around 75 per cent, below the world average of 81 per cent.

One in four children in Latin America and the Caribbean lacks basic vaccines, the UN agency warned.

According to the source, the causes of the setback are the social, political and economic crises, the wave of migration and the Covid 19 pandemic.