One million children vaccinated against measles

One million children between the ages of six months and 15 years have been vaccinated against measles under a campaign begun about nine months ago, health authorities said here this week. The joint campaign, involving the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Liberian Health Ministry, started in June 2003, the three institutions said in a statement read out at a press briefing on Tuesday by Health Minister Peter Coleman. The operation started in the capital, Monrovia, surrounding areas and camps for internally displaced people, even as Liberia’s war closed in on the city, according to the statement, a copy of which was obtained by IRIN. It said 1.3 million to 1.5 million children have been targeted in the exercise, which is intended to save the lives of up to 10,000 children under five years old in the next four years. Thus far, donors have provided UNICEF with $1.17 million for the campaign, while WHO has made US$15,000 available. A further US $640,000 is needed to complete the entire project, according to the statement. "The measles vaccination campaign is the largest government-supported national health campaign in 15 years in term of coverage,” UNICEF Country Representative Angela Kearney said in the statement. She said the campaign also involved rehabilitating long-abandoned clinics and health posts. “Vaccination teams are reaching some of the most difficult and insecure areas in Liberia as they carry out work where the United Nations Mission has yet to deploy,” the statement said. These include areas close to the borders with Sierra Leone Cote d’Ivoire. However, no vaccinations were carried out in the northern county of Lofa, which bore the brunt of Liberia’s years-long war, and where no children have been immunised in four years. According to the statement, plans are being made to carry out immunisations in Lofa.