Bangladesh launches measles vaccination campaign

The Bangladesh measles vaccination campaign to be held for three weeks between February 25 and March 16 will mark the Measles Initiative's expansion into Asia after recently celebrating the success of the Initiative's original goal of reducing measles deaths by vaccinating 200 million children in more than 40 African countries, and preventing 1 million children from dying from measles over five years.

The Government of Bangladesh launches the largest ever measles campaign next week in an effort to reduce measles deaths and morbidity with support from the Measles Initiative, a partnership led by the American Red Cross, UN Foundation, World Health Organization, UNICEF and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The campaign will be the largest public health undertaking in the history of Bangladesh; approximately 33.5 million children between the ages of nine months and 10 years will be immunized by 50,000 skilled vaccinators and 750,000 mobilized volunteers, through more than 100,000 schools and 150,000 Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) centers. When completed, the Bangladesh campaign will be the largest measles vaccination campaign in history. The largest campaign carried out to date was in Nigeria with 28.5 million children vaccinated.

This is the second phase of the measles campaign in Bangladesh. Phase One of the campaign took place in September 2005 where an estimated 1.37 million children were vaccinated against measles in the Bogra and Rajshai districts as well as in Rajshahi City Corporation. The campaign coverage was 93%.

During Phase Two of the campaign, all children between nine months and under 10 years old attending school will be vaccinated in their respective educational institutions during the first week of the campaign and children outside of the schooling system will be vaccinated at the regular EPI sites in the subsequent two weeks. There will be one session for the measles campaign in each routine EPI site during the campaign's three-week period. Routine EPI will not be interrupted and will run, throughout the campaign, as per the annual plan.

Measles is the fifth leading cause of childhood death in Bangladesh where an estimated 20,000 children die every year from the disease and related complications. In addition, according to current routine immunization coverage data, nearly 1.5 million children in each birth cohort do not develop immunity to measles. Despite the availability of a safe and highly effective vaccine for over forty years, millions of children globally still remain at risk. Though it typically costs US $1 to vaccinate a child against measles, it costs only US $0.40 in Bangladesh, thanks primarily to contributions from the Government of Bangladesh.

"Right now, approximately 20,000 Bangladeshi children die per year of measles -- that's 54 children every day dying from a vaccine-preventable disease," said UN Foundation Chairman Ted Turner. "The Measles Initiative began with the goal to reduce measles deaths in Africa. Measles cases and deaths in Africa have dropped by 60 percent since 1999 largely due to the Initiative's efforts and improvements in routine vaccination campaigns. The Initiative partners will now use this same model to support governments and countries in Asia, including Bangladesh, to help stem the tide of these needless deaths."

Supporting the Government of Bangladesh is the Measles Initiative, a partnership originally formed in 2001 to eliminate measles deaths in 36 sub- Saharan African countries. This year begins the Initiative's expansion into Asia after recently celebrating the success of exceeding the Initiative's original goal of reducing measles deaths by vaccinating 200 million children in more than 40 African countries, and preventing 1 million children from dying from measles over five years. The financial and technical support provided by the Measles Initiative and the commitment of African governments have resulted in an enormous public health success story; measles deaths have fallen 60 percent between 1999 and 2004 in Africa. This decline provides important progress toward the reaching the goal of reducing measles deaths by 90% by 2010. The Initiative now looks at replicating the success achieved in Africa to Asia. Other measles vaccination campaigns outside of Africa include Banda Aceh, Indonesia (emergency phase after the 2004 tsunami), Nepal and Maldives.

In accordance with the current WHO and UNICEF Global Measles Reduction strategy, the Government of Bangladesh developed and adopted a Plan of Action to control measles. Guided by this Plan, the National Steering Committee on Polio Eradication and Measles Control in Bangladesh decided to conduct a nation-wide measles catch-up campaign. Along with ongoing routine measles immunization, this campaign will significantly reduce childhood deaths due to measles. The World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and CDC are providing technical assistance for planning, implementation and evaluation for the Bangladesh campaign monitoring and evaluation. Generous financial support through the United Nations Foundation and the American Red Cross has enabled Bangladesh to conduct this historic campaign.