This is the VOA SpecialEnglish Development Report.
The World Health Organization is asking nations for an extratwo-hundred-million dollars to fight measles in developingcountries. The request was made last month during a meeting of theone-hundred-ninety-two member World Health Assembly.
The W-H-O says that each year almost seven-hundred-fifty-thousandchildren die from measles. That is out of more than thirty millioncases. Yet, it can be prevented with a vaccine medicine given earlyin life.
Measles is a highly infectiousdisease caused by a virus. It attacks the skin surface and thebody’s defense system. The disease can spread through liquid fromthe nose and throat of an infected person. People can also becomesick by breathing infected particles in the air.
The W-H-O and the United Nations Children’s Fund say they plan touse the requested money over the next three years to fight measlesin forty-five countries. Most are in Africa, where health officialssay more than half of all deaths from measles happen. W-H-Oofficials say this new campaign could prevent more than two-milliondeaths in Africa alone over the next ten years.
Danny Tarantola (tah-RAHN-to-lah) is the director of vaccines atthe World Health Organization. He says this campaign would offerchildren two chances to be vaccinated. The first would be at ninemonths of age. The vaccine would be given through the establishedhealth care system of each nation. The second chance would be threeor four years later through additional vaccination programs. TheW-H-O campaign would pay for the vaccine, safe injection materials,cooling equipment and trained workers to supervise vaccinationprograms.
The W-H-O says this campaign would help the United Nations reachtwo of its health goals. The first goal is to reduce by two-thirdsthe death rate of children under age five by two-thousand-ten. Thesecond goal is to cut the number of measles deaths in half fromnineteen-ninety-nine levels. Officials hope to do this within thenext two years.
The W-H-O says that of all health interventions, measlesvaccination carries one of the highest health returns for the moneyspent. The health agency says one amount of measles vaccine costsjust twenty-five cents, one-quarter of an American dollar. And thatincludes safe injection equipment.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by JillMoss.