"Afghani Measles Vaccination Campaign"

CDC REPORTS ON SUCCESS OF THE 2002 AFGHANI MEASLES VACCINATION

CAMPAIGN

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published

"Nationwide Measles Vaccination Campaign for Children Aged

6 Months-12 Years--Afghanistan, 2002" in the April 25 issue of

the "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report" (MMWR). A summary

made available to the press is reprinted below in its entirety.

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A measles campaign for children below 12 years of age prevented

between 20,000 to 25,000 children's deaths in Afghanistan in

2002.

Measles accounts for an estimated 30,000 to 35,000 deaths every

year in Afghanistan. To reduce measles-related mortality, the

Ministry of Health of the Interim Government of Afghanistan,

with the support of international organizations, organized a

nationwide measles vaccination campaign for children aged

6 months to 12 years in 2002. As of December 31, 2002,

10,299,878 children were reported to have been vaccinated

representing 82% of the national target population. The number

of reported measles cases decreased from 8,762 in 2001 to 2,574

in 2002. The cost of the campaign was approximately $0.78 per

child vaccinated.

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To obtain the complete text of the article online, go to:

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5216a3.htm

To obtain a camera-ready (PDF format) copy of this issue of

MMWR, go to:

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm5216.pdf

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