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Eradicating measles

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-03 15:47

One hundred million children will benefit from free vaccination against measles in September. The move brings the nation closer to its commitment to eradicate the disease by the year 2012. Efforts to eliminate measles help strengthen public health systems and reduce the number of children who die from pneumonia, diarrhea and micronutrient deficiencies that occur after measles infection.

Although a safe, cheap and efficient vaccine has been available through injection, 164,000 people died from the highly contagious viral disease in 2008. Most victims were children aged under five. More than 62,000 cases of measles were found in China last year. Serious complications such as blindness, encephalitis, severe diarrhea, pneumonia and ear infections accompany some measles-hit people throughout their lives.

The country's catch-up program to fight measles is expected to boost the levels of immunity among children who may have missed the second dose, or for those who found one of the doses ineffective, said David Hipgrave, chief of health and nutrition at UNICEF China.

Optimum vaccination coverage and improved surveillance are the cornerstones of the nation's plan to eliminate measles.

Measles used to be ubiquitous and caused many deaths in children under the age of five. Despite the success of routine vaccination in high-income countries since the 1960s, measles vaccination was included in the World Health Organization's expanded immunization program from 1974.

As the cases of measles in China accounted for 46 percent of the world's total in 2008, the effectiveness of the nation's measles immunization program will be significant in eliminating the disease globally.