Press Centre 2005/04/27: Health

Measles Immunisation in Turkey Picks Up The Pace

İstanbul 27 April 2005 -- Having set a national target to achieve a high level of immunity in the population and eliminate measles by 2010, Turkey is intensifying its efforts and conducting a one-time ‘catch-up campaign’ targeting children aged between 9 months and 14 years.

In December 2003, around 11 million schoolchildren aged between 6 and14 years were successfully vaccinated -- a coverage rate of 97%.

During the current month-long campaign, which runs from 25 April to 20 May, a further 8.5 million pre-school children aged between 9 months and 6 years will be targeted along with the remaining children under 15 years who are not attending school.

This stage of Turkey’s Measles Elimination campaign was officially launched by the Minister of Health, Dr Recep Akdağ, Dr John Spika of WHO Copenhagen and the UNICEF Representative in Turkey, Mr Edmond McLoughney at an inauguration ceremony in İstanbul on 27 April.

Dr Akdağ said that: Turkey is aiming to increase vaccination coverage to 95% adding that roughly 50,000 health care staff will work to vaccinate all eligible children nationwide. We intend to have immunised 20 million children against the disease by the end of this campaign -- the highest number in Europe to date.

Dr Akdağ renewed the Ministry of Health (MOH) and UNICEF’s appeal for more support from the media in helping to raise awareness of the need to eradicate measles amongst the target groups of children under six-years-old and children who are out of school as well as their families:

The capacity of the media to reach into every home and every corner of the country is an invaluable resource, a public service, that important campaigns such as this one cannot do without.

A significant reduction in the number of measles cases is expected, in a country where measles is still one of the major causes of childhood disease, disability and death. Mr McLoughney noted that:

Between 1,400 and 1,500 children die each year in Turkey in spite of the fact that the vaccine itself is inexpensive and effective - the primary cause being a general lack of public awareness regarding the hazardous side effects of the disease. Families can easily overlook the necessity of getting their children immunised. So raising awareness is what this event is all about.

The sooner the threat that measles poses to childhood is eliminated the better -- not just in Turkey but everywhere in the world. And Turkey is making an admirable example for the entire CEE/CIS Region with its impressive progress towards eradicating the disease

For good measure, Dr Akdağ officially launched the immunisation drive by vaccinating three infants. The children were unable to resist shedding a few tears -- despite the incentive of a little chocolate.

Following the launch, hundreds of local school children and children who work on the street joined Dr Akdağ, Dr Spika and Mr McLoughney in a march along İstanbul’s İstiklal Caddesi, to Taksim in order to draw public attention to the campaign.

The children and adults formed a good-natured gang, improvising a song around the slogans on their placards to entertain the mid-week shoppers in what is perhaps one of the busiest shopping areas of the city.

This intensive effort has been organised by the MOH in close collaboration with other public institutions and with financial and technical support from the WHO Regional Office for Europe, UNICEF and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have also been involved, especially in reaching those children who are not attending school.

Measles continues to be one of the most important causes of childhood mortality and the leading cause of vaccine-preventable deaths in childhood, causing an estimated 530,000 deaths globally in 2003. A WHO/UNICEF measles mortality reduction strategy launched in 2000 aims for a 50% reduction in measles deaths by 2005; an estimated 873 000 deaths were reported in 1999.

The WHO Regional Office for Europe developed and implemented a regional strategic plan for measles and congenital rubella infection in 2002. The plan clearly sets out the strategies to eliminate measles in all 52 countries of the WHO European Region by 2010.

Immunisation is considered among the most cost-effective of health investments. It has a well defined target group; contact with the health system is only needed at the time of delivery; and vaccination does not require any major change of lifestyle. For example, a recent study estimated that a one-week ‘supplemental immunisation activity’ against measles carried out in Kenya in 2002 -- in which 12.8 million children were vaccinated -- would result in a net saving in health costs of US$ 12 million over the following 10 years; during that time it would prevent 3.85 million cases of measles and 125,000 deaths.

Read more about the Measles Elimination Programme in the Autumn 2004 edition of Say Yes, the quarterly newsletter of UNICEF Turkey.

Yusuf Kulca of the Umut Çocukları NGO talks to UNICEF Turkey about the issue of children living on the street in the Spring 2005 edition of Say Yes.

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