UNICEF launches measles vaccination campaign in quake zone

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has launched a massive measles immunisation campaign to vaccinate 800,000 children affected by the South Asian earthquake. At least 86,000 people were killed and more than 100,000 injured in the earthquake that razed much of Pakistani-administered Kashmir. The campaign, run in conjunction with the Ministry of Health (MoH), will take two weeks and will cover young people up to the age of fifteen in the earthquake-affected area of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Children up to the age of five will receive vitamin A, which reduces the mortality rate of measles by 50 percent. Children will also be vaccinated against polio, diphtheria and tetanus. There have been some 40 cases of measles in the region so far, and a four-year old girl has died of diphtheria with two other suspected cases. "Of all the health interventions that you can provide to an internally displaced population, the single most effective intervention is to provide measles vaccines. You basically avoid huge mortality," said Dr Edward Hoekstra, a senior health advisor for UNICEF in Muzaffarabad. The MoH, supported by UNICEF, began a measles campaign days after the earthquake struck and 38,000 children, mainly in camps, have been immunised so far. But the earthquake crippled the health system, with about 70 percent of the region’s health facilities destroyed and many health workers killed. This is why UNICEF has stepped in to accelerate the immunising process, from vaccinating 16,000 children per week to 60,000 children per day. It is also essential that children in remote mountain villages are reached before the winter snow will make them inaccessible. "All children under 15 will be immunised. If we don’t reach them now there’s a major risk of getting measles and diphtheria and basically of dying," Hoekstra said. "There’s a narrow window to reach kids before winter starts," he warned. To meet its target, the UN agency is dispatching 582 vaccination teams, with two people in each team, into towns and mountain villages. Local health workers will also be used, including some 600 local female health workers, who will help to mobilise patients. The Pakistani army will also provide vaccination teams. UNICEF warned that up to 25 percent of children living in internally displaced communities could die of measles, whereas under normal conditions the mortality rate is much lower. Dire living conditions, with overcrowding, a lack of food and bad sanitation provide the perfect ingredients to exacerbate the disease. Malnutrition and respiratory problems prove fatal for sufferers. "This is the single most important and effective programme in an emergency situation and it’s just the right thing to do. We can do it and we will do it," said Hoekstra.