Dr. Foege on measles elimination

Dr. William Foege, amongst the world's most esteemed global public health experts, opened the recent Measles Initiative Annual Meeting in Washington. He recalled his work in rural Nigeria 46 years ago, when measles was "the single most lethal agent in the world." At that time up to 7% of children in the country were destined to die from the disease, with death rates rising dramatically when food was scarce before the harvest. He underscored the miracle of the vaccine, which was the equivalent of opening new hospitals because "suddenly there were hospital beds available that had been used for measles up until that time."  Dr. Foege told the meeting that "when the history of measles elimination from the world is written – when it’s possible to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson that quotes 'the world will know by history only that this disease has existed'.. it will describe a global effort of continuous quality improvement in vaccine programs...It will marvel at the speed at which the program improved. But it will marvel even more at the speed at which the measles virus disappeared."

Measles Advocacy 10th Annual Meeting Presentations Available 

More than 100 stakeholders in the Measles Initiative, including the founding partners,  donors including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, GAVI Alliance and DFID, civil society partners including Lions Clubs International, health leaders from the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, PATH, Médecins Sans Frontières, researchers and civil society partners discussed the global status of measles, rubella and congenital rubella syndrome in Washington from 13-14 September. The presentations are now available here on www.measlesinitiative.org. 

Upcoming Events

Measles SIAs:
22-24/10
Tanzania: Zanzibar
Target Pop: 6,691,196 

17-23/11
Cote D'Ivoire 
Target Pop: 6,864,519 

27/11- 3/12
Laos PDR 
Target Pop: 2,243,395

12/12-18/12
The Gambia 
Target Pop: 320,781

Throughout October
* Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia are conducting targeted measles SIAs given the increase in cases linked to the Horn of Africa Crisis. 

* Various Indian states including Nagaland are conducting SIAs this month as part of India's accelerated measles control efforts.