Despite
progress, measles kills 400 children a day: WHO
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[November 11, 2016]
By Kate Kelland
LONDON (Reuters) - The number of deaths
from measles has fallen by 79 percent worldwide since 2000, thanks
mainly to mass vaccination campaigns, but nearly 400 children still die
from the disease every day, global health experts said on Thursday.
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In a report on global efforts to "make measles history", the United
Nations children's fund, the World Health Organization and other
bodies said fight was being hampered not by a lack of tools or
knowledge, but a lack of political will to get every child immunized
against the highly infectious disease.
"Without this commitment, children will continue to die from a
disease that is easy and cheap to prevent," said Robin Nandy,
UNICEF's head of immunization.
Mass measles vaccination campaigns and a global increase in routine
vaccine coverage saved an estimated 20.3 million young lives between
2000 and 2015, the report said.
But coverage is patchy, and in some countries the majority of
children are not vaccinated. In 2015, around 20 million babies
missed their measles shots and an estimated 134,000 children died
from the disease.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia,
Nigeria and Pakistan account for half of the unvaccinated babies and
75 percent of the measles deaths.
Measles is a highly contagious virus that spreads through direct
contact and through the air. It is one of the biggest killers of
children worldwide, but can be prevented with two doses of a widely
available and inexpensive vaccine.
According to the report, published by UNICEF, the WHO, the GAVI
vaccines alliance and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, outbreaks of measles in various countries – caused by
gaps in immunization – are still a major problem.
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Seth Berkley, GAVI's chief executive, urged governments to recognize
the threat of "one of the world's most deadly vaccine-preventable
childhood killers" and act to contain it.
"We need strong commitments from countries and partners to boost
routine immunization coverage and to strengthen surveillance
systems," he said.
In 2015, large outbreaks were reported in Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany,
Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, the report said. The epidemics in Germany
and Mongolia affected older people, highlighting the need to
vaccinate young adults who missed out on measles jabs.
Measles also tends to flare up during conflicts or humanitarian
emergencies when vaccination schedules are disrupted. Last year,
outbreaks were reported in Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan.
(Editing by Richard Balmforth)
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