Say Yes, Autumn 2004: In This Issue

MORE THAN JUST COUGHS AND SNEEZES

For most children living in richer parts of the world, measles is an nasty fever which, given adequate care and attention, comes and goes in much the same way as a bad dose of flu. Best known for its trademark symptom of a spotty rash, the disease is actually a respiratory infection characterised by a runny nose, reddening of the eyes, a hacking cough and a sometimes dangerously high fever that can reach 40°C.

However, for children in less developed countries, the disease is a scourge -- the biggest cause of vaccine-preventable childhood deaths in the world. Inadequate access to medical attention and other health care services can lead to complications such as pneumonia, hepatitis and encephalitis that are far more dangerous than the measles infection on its own -- Diarrhœa, a common symptom, can lead to dehydration and death in countries where access to drinking water is poor.

More than half a million children’s lives could be saved every year by immunising them against the measles. To this end, WHO and UNICEF are supporting a global drive to eliminate the disease by 2010.

In Turkey, the second phase of the Ministry of Health (MOH) programme of measles Immunisation Days took place in the first two weeks of October with the support of UNICEF. Last year over 10 million children were immunised in a nationwide drive to reach school children between the ages of 6-14 years. This autumn, the second phase focused on infants and children who are out-of-school.

The programme was supported by a nationwide public awareness campaign tailored to inform both parents and children of the importance of immunisation.

For more about the Programme of Measles Immunisation days (and the nasty little microbes decorating this article), read Up Hill, Down Dale … Routing Measles.

MORE THAN AN EDUCATION CAMPAIGN

Now in its second phase, Haydi Kızlar Okula! -- The Ministry of Education (MONE) and UNICEF’s campaign to get girls into school in Turkey -- is proving to be more than an education campaign. Haydi Kızlar Okula! incorporates a number of strategies that address a broad spectrum of critically important social issues such as:

• addressing social exclusion by reaching out to families who keep their girls at home from school -- the most marginalised, excluded and hardest to reach families;
• addressing poverty by attempting to provide people of low income with an education and a capacity for a better life;
• promoting behavioural change by appealing to people with strong traditional and/or religious beliefs which militate against women;
• providing a service by reaching out to those with little or no access to services;
• promoting and protecting children’s rights by reaching out to those families where children’s rights are regularly violated through the worst forms of child labour, early marriage and domestic violence;
• promoting gender equality by attempting to raise the status of girls and redressing the existing gender imbalance;
• improving health since better educated girls will themselves be healthier and they will have fewer but healthier children in the future;
• bolstering the economy by equipping more of the population with the basic skills necessary to compete in the job market;
• improving civil rights by seeking to increase rates of birth registration;
• protecting children by combating the neglect represented by keeping girls uneducated, the exploitation of child labour, discrimination against girls and the problem of early marriage.

Read A Campaign Notebook.