BEVERLY HILLS, November 14, (THEWILL) – The increase in the mortality rate from measles is becoming a source of worry to the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF).
More worrisome to the Fund is the latest data which indicated that the number of child deaths from measles rose from an estimated 122,000 in 2012 to 145,700 in 2013.
UNICEF lamented the growing mortality rate in figures published by the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and WHO’s Weekly Epidemiological Report, which showed that although an estimated 15.6 million deaths have been prevented by measles vaccination between 2000 and 2013, progress has stalled and previous gains are being reversed.
“This is very worrying, because if current trends continue, more children will suffer the effects of this highly dangerous, extremely contagious, but easily preventable disease,” head of UNICEF’s immunisation programmes, Jos Vandelaer.
According to him, “Measles is affecting the poorest children, from families for which seeking treatment can have a devastating impact on household income.”
He added that “Only 84 per cent of the world’s children received their first dose of measles vaccine in 2013, leaving 21.5 million children vulnerable to this highly contagious disease.”
According to him, “ Three out of every five children were not vaccinated live in just six countries – India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – where vaccination coverage for measles and other diseases remains patchy and inconsistent.”
He maintained that “Failure to vaccinate against measles leaves children at risk of serious health complications including pneumonia, diarrhoea, brain damage, blindness and death,” saying “ Vaccination, which is cheap and easily administered, has been proven as one of the best investments a country can make in its children.”
He however disclosed that: “Since 2000, some 1.7 billion children have received measles vaccination through mass measles vaccination campaigns with support from UNICEF. UNICEF is a founding member of the Measles & Rubella Initiative, launched in 2001 with the American Red Cross, the UN Foundation, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organisation.”
Vandelaer said “A number of global goals for measles elimination are now at risk,” adding “These trends should be taken seriously by those with the ability and the responsibility to reverse them.”
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