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'Measles Initiative' (MI) was launched in February 2001, as a long-term commitment to control measles in Africa. The effort involved vaccinating 200 million children and preventing 1.2 million deaths over five years.
In November 2005, MI announced that the program has been successful to date with measles cases and deaths reduced by 60 percent.

Contents

About the Measles Initiative

The Facts

Partners

External links

About the Measles Initiative

Each year a disease that has virtually been eliminated in the Western Hemisphere kills nearly 345,000 people globally, and of those, most are children under the age of five. Measles is a leading vaccine-preventable childhood killer and millions of children still remain at risk. There is good news. Measles can be prevented with a simple vaccination that costs less than one dollar per child.
The Measles Initiative, launched in 2001, is a partnership committed to reducing measles deaths globally, supporting the goal of cutting measles deaths by 90 percent by 2010 compared with estimates from 2000. During 2000-2005 more than 360 million children were vaccinated globally. During its first five years (2001-2005), the Initiative was the main international supporter of mass measles immunization campaigns that led to the vaccination of more than 217 million children, predominantly in Africa.
From 1999-2005, measles deaths in Africa dropped by 75%, from 506,000 to 126,000, largely due to the support provided by the Measles Initiative and the commitment of African governments.
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. In 2007, for the first time, the Measles Initiative will support vaccination campaigns in each of the six WHO regions of the world.
Leading the Measles Initiative efforts are the American Red Cross, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United Nations Foundation, UNICEF and the World Health Organization.

The Facts

'The bad news:'

★ Millions of children still remain at risk from measles. Malnourished and un-immunized children under five, especially infants, are at high risk of contracting measles and are more vulnerable to death.

★ Measles is a leading cause of vaccine-preventable death among children.

★ Approximately 410,000 children under the age of five die globally of measles each year.

★ Measles can cause severe health complications, including pneumonia, diarrhea, encephalitis, and corneal scarring, which can lead to blindness.

★ Spread through the air, measles is one of the most contagious diseases known.

★ The primary reason for ongoing childhood deaths is the failure to deliver at least one dose of measles vaccine to all infants.

★ In developing countries, measles death rates range from 1-5%, but in refugee settings and among malnourished children, the death rate may reach 10-30%.
'The good news:'

★ Thanks to improvements in routine and supplementary immunization activities, globally measles deaths have dropped by 48% from 871,000 in 1999 to an estimated 454,000 in 2004.

★ The largest measles related deaths reduction occurred in Africa, the region with the highest burden of the disease, where estimated measles cases and deaths dropped by 60%

★ Measles vaccination is the most cost-effective public health intervention available for preventing deaths.

★ It costs less than $1 to vaccinate a child against measles.

★ As of the end of 2005, 1.2 million deaths were prevented and over 217 million children received measles vaccinations.

★ Since 2001 the Initiative has mobilized more than $308 million and has supported vaccinations in over 44 countries in African and Asian.

★ The success of the Measles Initiative partnership strengthens other health initiatives in countries participating in measles campaigns.

★ In December 2004, for the first time ever, children in Togo received four life-saving interventions at once: de-worming medicine, polio and measles vaccines, and insecticide-treated nets to help prevent malaria.

★ Many times, vaccination coverage exceeds 100% during a campaign because children from neighboring areas or those outside the age range come to receive the vaccine.

Partners

The partners of Measles Initiative are:

★ American Red Cross

★ International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent

★ United Nations Foundation

★ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

★ World Health Organization (WHO)

★ United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
These organization endorsed a joint declaration on January 31, 2001 declaring their intent to fight measles in Africa.

External links

★ Measles Initiative - Official website

★ Measles and Malaria Task Force - Official website