DEVELOPMENT REPORT – February 25, 2002: Measles in Africa

By Jill Moss

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Five leading public health organizations have announced a campaign to reduce the number of deaths among
children in Africa caused by measles. The American Red Cross is leading this effort. Its goal is to save the lives
of more than one-million children over the next five years. Officials hope to give vaccine medicines to prevent
measles to more than two-hundred-million children.

Measles attacks the skin surfaces and the body’s defense system against disease. It
also can cause blindness and brain damage. Measles is the single leading cause of
death among children in Africa. It kills more than four-hundred-fifty-thousand
children in Africa each year. Yet it can be easily prevented with a simple vaccine
medicine.

Danny Tarantola (tah-RAHN-to-lah) is the Director of Vaccines at the World Health
Ugandan child awaits Organization. He says measles is seen in many African communities as the one

immunization

(Photo - Daniel Cima/Red disease that tests the survival of children. Doctor Tarantola says in some
Cross) communities children will not be given a name unless they have survived the

disease.The American Red Cross has joined four other organizations in the
campaign against measles. They are the United States Centers for Disease Control, the World Health
Organization, the United Nations Foundation, and the U-N Children’s Fund. The five groups have promised
two-hundred-million dollars for the campaign. That is about one-dollar for each child.

Officials say the campaign really began last year. More than twenty-million children received the measles
vaccine in Tanzania, Uganda, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Cameroon. Officials say the
campaign reached ninety-five percent of the children in those countries and saved more than one-hundred-fortythousand lives. Officials now plan to target fifty-three-million children in twelve more countries this year.

Health officials hope to follow a model used during a successful campaign against the disease polio. They say the
polio operation helped build a support system in Africa that the measles campaign will use. Officials are carrying
out the effort against measles in Africa first because the need is greatest. However, they hope to extend the
campaign to other parts of the world.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss.

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