Measles outbreak prompts emergency vaccination campaign

An increase in cases of measles has prompted Kenya's health ministry to embark on an emergency vaccination campaign to protect children against the disease, which has claimed the lives of 41 patients around the country over the past six months.

About 1,600 cases of the disease have been reported during the same period, James Nyikal, the director of medical services in the health ministry, told reporters on Monday.

The first phase of the vaccination campaign - scheduled to start on Saturday and last until 5 May - will target 560,000 children in 16 high-risk areas, including eight divisions in the capital, Nairobi, where 16 of the deaths have been reported. Other high-risk districts have been identified as Garissa, Wajir, Ijara, Tana River, Isiolo, Marsabit, Mandera and Moyale.

The Ministry of Health has urged parents to take all children aged between nine months and five years for vaccination, which will be available in all government and private health centres in the identified areas. Children under the age of five will also receive polio vaccines and vitamin A supplements.

The second phase of the emergency measles vaccination targeting the rest of the country will be undertaken in June, Nyikal said.

Kenyan health officials have speculated that the latest measles outbreak may have originated from neighbouring Somalia, which has low immunisation coverage.

According to the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), measles is a major killer of young children, despite the availability of a safe and effective vaccine for the past 40 years. An estimated 454,000 people, the majority of them children, died from measles in 2004.

Measles is an acute viral respiratory illness associated with high fever, rashes and vomiting.