Immunization

Reducing measles mortality

GOAL: To reduce measles mortality by ninety per cent by 2010 and interrupt transmission of the virus in the Americas, Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean region where measles is still active. 

The Challenge

Measles infects 25 to 30 million children each year and kills over 345,000, often from complications related to pneumonia, diarrhoea and malnutrition. Many that survive are left with life-long disabilities: blindness, deafness or brain damage. Measles is a viral respiratory infection that attacks the immune system and is so contagious that any children not immunized will suffer from the disease when exposed. Those under five years of age are most at risk.

The majority of measles deaths occur in countries that do not provide a second dose of measles vaccine through routine immunization services or through mass campaigns every 3-4 years. These countries include India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Somalia, and Sudan.

The Solution

Measles can easily be prevented through immunization. The primary reason children die from measles is because they don’t receive the vaccine. It only costs $1 to vaccinate a child against measles. Considerable progress has been already been made through immunization – between 2000 and 2005 reported annual deaths from measles has dropped by 60 per cent, from and estimated 873,000 death per year in 1999 to 345,000 deaths in 2005.

To achieve the goal of reducing measles mortality by 90 per cent by 2010, UNICEF and WHO have developed the Measles Mortality Reduction and Regional Elimination: Strategic Plan 2001-2005. Together with its partners, UNICEF is providing routine measles immunization, along with periodic supplemental campaigns in high-risk regions.

UNICEF also provides emergency immunization and vitamin A supplementation to young victims of natural or manmade disasters. Such crises can compromise the health of children, rendering them very susceptible to disease. During the conflict in Afghanistan, for example, UNICEF conducted a mass measles immunization campaign aimed at reaching up to 10 million children and saving more than 35,000 lives. In response to the earthquake in Kashmir, Pakistan on 8 October 2005, more than 1.2 million children received a measles shot and vitamin A.

The Measles Initiative

The Measles Initiative has vaccinated over 250 million children in Africa over the past five years and has, as a result, prevented 1.8 million deaths. In this alliance, UNICEF is working with the American Red Cross, the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the UN Foundation. Today, building on its success in Africa, the Initiative has expanded into Asia. The Initiative increasingly provides additional life-saving health interventions in its campaigns, including Vitamin A, de-worming medicine and insecticide-treated bed nets for malaria prevention.

Together with national ministries of health and other local government agencies, the Measles Initiative partners are increasing routine vaccination services, conducting countrywide immunization days and  mobilizing entire communities in an effort to vaccinate every child. Supplemental campaigns are offered to provide a second chance for children who missed the first opportunity. They also give others an occasion to receive a second vaccination, making ensuring that the immunization is effective.

Progress

• In January of 2007, the Measles Initiative announced that between 2000 and 2005 global measles deaths dropped by 60 per cent. In Africa, the number of deaths was reduced by 75 per cent. 
• Between 2000-2005, more than 362 million children received measles vaccine in 47 priority countries at a cost of less than US$1 per child, which includes the vaccine and other associated costs such as equipment, transportation and personnel.
• Between 1999 and 2005, an additional estimated 2.3 million deaths were prevented through increased measles coverage of the first dose of measles from 71% in 1999 to 76% in 2005 through routine immunization services and through mass immunization campaigns in 45 of the 47 priority countries.
• The number of measles cases in the Western Hemisphere fell by 99% over the last decade due to efforts of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).