CDC Reports Large Declines in Measles Deaths
According to data published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, an estimated 777,000 children died in 2000 from measles. Deaths from measles makes up much of the 1.7 million annual deaths that the World Health Organization estimates could be prevented by vaccination, and it was the fifth leading cause of death in children under 5 years of age.
The 2000 figure marked an 11 percent decline in estimated measles deaths from 1999, however. In 2001, WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund created a Global Measles Strategic Plan whose goal was to cut measles deaths in half by 2005.
In order to reach that goal, vaccination rates in Africa and Asia would have to rise significantly. The CDC notes that in 2001-2002 WHO and other organizations raised $40 million which was spent on an intensive vaccination program targeting children 14 years and under in several African nations. The CDC reports that preliminary, unpublished data from WHO suggests that this had an immediate, significant impact on measles cases in those countries.
Sources:
Mass vaccination programs cut world measles deaths. Reuters, May 22, 2003.
Update: Global Measles Control and Mortality Reduction — Worldwide, 1991–2001. Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Review, U.S. Centers for Disease Control, May 23, 2003.
The CDC Reports Large Declines in Measles Deaths by Brian Carnell, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
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