The number of people, mostly children, killed by measles each year dropped by 30 percent over three years, putting the world on track for a targeted 50 percent fall by 2005, United Nations agencies said on Tuesday.
But the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.N.’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said more money and continued commitment by government leaders in affected countries was needed to meet the goal.
Although a safe, effective and inexpensive vaccine has been available for the past 40 years, measles remains the leading killer amongst children of all diseases preventable by vaccines, the agencies said in a statement.
“We have to keep up the work and the funding as still far too many children’s lives are lost to measles,” said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy.
Decline due to vaccinations
The 30 percent fall to 610,000 deaths was achieved between 1999 and 2002, the latest year for which figures are available. Africa registered the strongest improvement with a 35 percent reduction.
In all, 311,000 people died in Africa, 196,000 in southeast Asia and 70,000 in the east Mediterranean area in 2002.
The percentage of children being vaccinated in affected countries remained at around 73 percent, slightly below the recommended 80 percent. The drop in the death rate was largely due to the fact that more children were being routinely re-vaccinated every three to four years.
“Countries have proved that routine immunization and supplemental measles immunization will reduce measles deaths. This is an extremely important step,” said WHO chief Lee Jong-wook.
