Unicef: Southeast Asia slow in eradicating measles

The United Nations Children’s Fund said that Southeast Asia is slow in eradicating measles.

The Unicef, together with founding partners of Measles Initiative, international agencies American Red Cross (ARC), United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United Nations Foundation and World Health Organization, said in their joint statement that progress in Southeast Asia has been limited with just a 42 percent decline in measles death.

“It is a tragedy that measles still kills more than 500 children a day when there is a safe, effective and inexpensive vaccine to prevent the disease,” Unicef executive director Ann Veneman said.

Although global deaths from measles dropped by 74 percent from 2000 to 2007, Veneman said “much more needs to be done.”

The slow decline in measles eradication was blamed on the delayed implementation of large-scale vaccination campaigns in India, which currently accounts for two-thirds of global measles deaths

“Political commitment in India is essential if the 2010 global goal is to be achieved,” the statement reads.

To achieve the 2010 goals, all children must be given two doses of measles vaccine, the first of which is by their first birthday.

Under the Measles Initiative program, technical and financial supports are provided to governments and communities for disease surveillance.

The initiative had provided the vaccination of more than 600 million children in over 60 countries, thus helping reduce measles deaths worldwide.

As global deaths from measles dropped, the international agencies noted that the most significant reduction was observed in the eastern Mediterranean region.

They revealed that measles death worldwide went down from 750,000 to 197,000 in the past seven years.