Measles immunisation campaign planned for the south

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and its partner agencies plan to launch a major measles immunisation campaign in southern Sudan next year in a bid to combat frequent outbreaks of the disease in the region, the agency said. The campaign will target children between six months and 15 years of age during 2005 and 2006, according to UNICEF's September-October report on operations in southern Sudan released on Thursday. This age group represents about 49 percent of southern Sudan's 7.5 million people. The immunisation effort would be preceded by a pilot campaign in two selected counties. According to UNICEF, routine immunisation data in southern Sudan showed that measles coverage for children under the age of five stood at seven percent in 2001, 11 percent in 2002 and 16 percent in 2003. The agency said measles surveillance in the region had improved during the past three years, with outbreak reports showing cases of the disease on the rise. Some 364 cases were reported in 2002, against 649 in 2003 and 1,092 cases during the first half of this year.