UN meets goal of slashing measles deaths

Measles deaths have fallen by 60 per cent worldwide since 1999, public health experts said Thursday.

Global deaths fell from an estimated 873,000 in 1999 to 345,000 in 2005, according to new World Health Organization data.

Africa showed greater progress, with measles deaths falling by 75 per cent, from an estimated 506,000 to 126,000, researchers said.

Partners in the Measles Initiative the American Red Cross, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United Nations Foundation, UNICEF and World Health Organization report the decline in this week's issue of the medical journal The Lancet.

"This is an historic victory for global public health, for the power of partnership and for commitment by countries to fight a terrible disease," said Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of WHO in Geneva.

"Our promise to cut measles deaths by half and save hundreds of thousands of lives has not only been fulfilled, it has been surpassed in just six years with Africa leading the way."

In 2002, the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children adopted a goal to halve measles mortality (based on 1999 estimates) by 2005.

The UN agencies targeted 45 countries with most measles deaths using a four-pronged strategy:

• Achieving and maintaining high coverage for routine measles immunization in every district.
• Ensuring that all children receive a second opportunity for immunization.
• Effective surveillance for measles cases.
• Appropriate clinical treatment of people with measles.

"We are winning the fight against measles, which has long killed, sickened and disabled our children," said U Olanguena Awono, Cameroon's minister of public health.

The program's next goal is to reduce mortality from measles by 90 per cent between 2000 and 2010.

If political will and financial commitments are maintained, and linked to the delivery of measles vaccines and other interventions, such as the use of insecticide-treated bednets, then "there is good reason to believe that this new target can be met," the study's authors concluded.