More than one in 10 children around the world miss out on basic life-saving vaccinations, according to figures released by the World Health Organization.

To mark World Immunisation Week, running from April 24 to April 28, WHO is highlighting the importance of vaccines but is also warning that a large number of children do not receive any vaccinations at all.

An estimated 19.5m children missed out on the basic diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis – or whooping cough – (DTP) vaccine in 2016, estimates WHO.

Despite efforts to boost vaccination rates over the past decade progress has stalled and just 86 per cent of infants worldwide – 116.5m – received the basic DTP vaccine.

WHO says that between two and three million lives are saved every year through the DTP vaccine but an additional 1.5million deaths could be avoided if coverage improved.

About 60 per cent of the children missing out on these life-saving vaccines live in just 10 countries.