Published Date: 2010-08-16 16:16:54
Subject: PRO/EAFR> Measles - Africa (30): Malawi
Archive Number: 20100816.211284

MEASLES - AFRICA (30): MALAWI
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Date: Sun 15 Aug 2010
Source: Google News, Agence France-Presse (AFP) report [edited]
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jAADCS_TGX7OBV-1naZ7dXdoTGog


Malawi to immunize 6 million amid measles outbreak
--------------------------------------------------
Malawi has announced plans to launch a massive measles immunisation
drive on Monday [16 Aug 2010] in response to what a health official
described as the worst outbreak in a decade.

Measles has claimed 195 lives since January [2010] in the
impoverished southern African country, prompting authorities to
launch a USD 4.2 million (Euro 3.3 million) campaign to vaccinate 6
million children.

"We are ready for the launch and we will target 6 million children
aged from 6 months to 15 years for the mass immunisation," health
ministry spokesman Storn Kabuluzi told AFP.

Kabuluzi said Malawi is facing "the worst outbreak in a decade", with
nearly 77 000 measles cases reported, mainly in cities and towns.

He added that the target age group was at highest risk because many
children were not immunized during the last decade, when the
country's immunisation coverage was just 60 percent.

Kabuluzi said Malawi needed to push coverage to 90 percent to contain
the outbreak.

The World Health Organization recommends governments immunize against
the killer disease every 3 years.

--
Communicated by:
HealthMap Alerts via ProMED-EAFR


[A mass immunisation campaign targeting the most affected age-group
is the solution to the ongoing measles outbreak in Malawi but in
addition the routine measles vaccination coverage needs to be raised
from the average of 60 percent recorded in the recent years. These
efforts should be complemented with supplementary immunisation
activities every 2-3 years to mop-up all the unvaccinated children.

A map showing the regions of Malawi can be seen at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regions_of_Malawi. The
HealthMap/ProMED interactive map of the country is available at
http://healthmap.org/r/01am. - Mod.JFW]

See Also

Measles - Africa (29): Zambia 20100811.211138
Measles - Africa (28): Zambia 20100805.210874
Measles - Africa (27): Malawi 20100718.209231
Measles - Africa (26): Zambia 20100714.209169
Measles - Africa (25) 20100712.209113
Measles - Africa (24): Malawi 20100626.208850
Measles - Africa (23) 20100619.208705

[Additional background information on measles is available from the
general ProMED-mail list. The postings below can be found at
http://www.promedmail.org. - Mod.JFW


[Measles - India: (JK) RFI 20100813.2785
Measles - New Zealand (02): (Auckland) alert 20100810.2739
Measles - Argentina: ex South Africa, susp 20100809.2714
Measles - Brazil: (PA), RFI 20100807.2682
Measles - Africa (21): Zambia 20100806.2669
Measles - Europe: re-emergence 20100729.2548
Measles - Africa (20): Zambia 20100714.2360
Measles - Africa (19): Zambia 20100629.2162
Measles - Africa (18): West, Southern 20100623.2095
Measles - Africa (17): Malawi 20100620.2073
...................................jfw/mj/be

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