Partnerships:
Where a Child Dies Each Minute
By Phyllis A. Cuttino
Vice President, United Nations Foundation

Every minute, a child dies of measles in Africa. Although the Western Hemisphere has essentially eliminated measles cases and deaths, with 450,000 children dying from the disease every year on the continent, measles causes more children’s deaths than HIV, tuberculosis or malaria.

And yet, every measles death can be prevented with a simple vaccination costing less than one dollar per child.

As part of the global effort to reduce child mortality, a new public-private partnership has been formed to prevent measles deaths in Africa - the Measles Initiative, a long-term campaign committed to vaccinating approximately 200 million children at risk throughout Africa. Through both supplemental and follow-up campaigns in over 30 sub-Saharan countries, an estimated 1.2 million deaths will be prevented, bringing measles deaths in the region to near zero by 2005.

The Initiative is a United States-based partnership, bringing together the technical expertise, experience and strength of the United Nations Foundation, the American Red Cross, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the World Health Organization (WHO). Through the Initiative, the UN Foundation provides funding and financial mechanisms to move needed funds to the African countries; UNICEF provides vaccines and supports social mobilization activities; and WHO helps design the policies and health guidelines tailored for each country to ensure that proper, safe steps are taken during immunization campaigns.

Before the measles vaccine became available in 1962, virtually all children contracted the disease, and an estimated 135 million cases and about 7 million to 8 million deaths occurred globally each year.

However, by 1998 approximately 82 per cent of the world’s children under the age of one were reported to have received the measles vaccine, preventing an estimated 2 million deaths. More recently, in Latin America, deaths caused by measles have been reduced to almost zero after a series of supplemental vaccination campaigns conducted during the 1990s.

Building on the success of previous measles elimination efforts in Latin America, supplemental campaigns were carried out in eight African countries last year, the first year of the Measles Initiative. As a result, more than 21 million children in the United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Cameroon, Ghana, and Benin were vaccinated against the disease, preventing 47,000 needless deaths during a one-year period.

Because the Measles Initiative not only aims to vaccinate African children against measles but also to help build a sustainable health infrastructure to improve their overall health and well-being, in-country partners are critical to the success of the campaign. African partners include national Ministries of Health, national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, country and regional WHO and UNICEF offices, with support from the International Federation of the Red Cross and other non-governmental organizations.

Every child deserves a healthy start in life. Every child has the right to be immunized and protected from measles. We have a real opportunity to use the upcoming United Nations Special Session on Children to protect and improve children’s health all over the world by making concrete commitments on their behalf. Working together - the United Nations, NGOs, Governments and the business community - we can make a real difference in the lives of children today, and for the future of the world.

Links:
Measles Initiative