Measles vaccination campaign launched to prevent children’s deaths

A massive vaccination drive against measles began this week in an effort to stamp out a disease that kills between 5,000 and 10,000 Yemeni children ever year. For the first time in the country, the campaign is targeting children over 18 months old as part of a global campaign to eradicate the contagious disease. "At least one third of children in Yemen were never given the vaccine,” pointed out Naseem Ur Rehman, a UNICEF spokesman in the capital, Sana. “Although the disease affects mostly young children, older children can still become infected.” The campaign, run by the health ministry in cooperation with UNICEF and the World Health Organisation from 19 to 25 February, is targeting children between 9 months and 15 years old in the three highly populated provinces of Sana, Hodeida and Ibb, as well as Sana city. Over 16,300 villages and 4,100 schools in these areas will be covered by mobile vaccination teams and temporary medical sites in mosques, schools and health facilities. Minister of Public Health and Population Dr Abdul Kareem Rase said that 33 percent of Yemen’s targeted children lived in these three provinces. "In areas of high population density like Ibb, Hodeidah and Sana, where many people live close together, the disease can spread extremely easily," Rehman noted. Subsequent campaigns will hone in on the remainder of Yemen’s nine million children. Measles – one of the most contagious diseases in the world – remains a leading cause of death among young children, despite the availability of an effective vaccine for the past 40 years. According to Rehman, measles are responsible for about 12 percent of all child deaths in Yemen. "In 2005, about 80,000 cases were reported all over the country," he said. "Measles is the biggest cause of vaccine-preventable child deaths,” Rehman went on to say, adding that children under five were most at risk. “Those who survive are left with life-long disabilities, like blindness, deafness and brain damage.” Children usually do not die directly from measles, but from complications associated with the illness, which can include blindness, encephalitis (an infection of the brain), severe diarrhoea, ear infections and severe respiratory infections such as pneumonia.