16 african countries threatened by measles
Posted on May 2, 2010 by ralph
New York, USA – The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF said in a joint statement issued in New York Thursday that 16 African countries in West and Central Africa were threatened by a resurgence of measles.
According to the statement, citing a report, “since March 28 this year, a total of 22,364 cases and 185 deaths were recorded in West Africa and Central Africa.
The report also highlighted a budget deficit of follow-up campaign of measles estimated 16 million U.S. dollars for Africa will endanger the health of children if donors and governments are not doing enough efforts to provide appropriate responses.
According to UN statistics, average 66 per cent of children in West Africa and Central Africa have received one dose of vaccine against measles by their first birthday via routine health services 2008.
The report of the WHO and UNICEF, however, indicated that efforts by governments in collaboration with partners have resulted in a reduction of 92 per cent of cases during the period 2000-2008 in the region.
He added that in West Africa and Central Africa, most countries had vaccinated nearly 80 per cent of their population through routine vaccination campaigns when he was recommended to vaccinate up to 95 percent.
The report dwelt on the great measles epidemic in Burkina Faso where we had identified more than 50,000 cases and 340 deaths and other statements of the disease in Benin, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal with 68 deaths over 16,808 reported cases.
“2010 is a crucial year for achieving the UN goal of reducing measles mortality by 90 percent but may reverse if nothing is done to prevent the resurgence of the disease, prevent two specialized agencies of the UN