The Measles Initiative supports the WHO/UNICEF Strategic Plan for measles. This strategy includes routine vaccination, vaccination campaigns, surveillance of the disease and treatment of sick children with vitamin A in all countries. The inclusion of vaccination campaigns has a profound impact on reducing measles cases and deaths.

Vaccination campaigns - targets

African societies exceed targets after Measles Initiative's first year

A measles campaign is a coordinated effort of health workers, volunteers, and communities to ensure that within a short period of time vaccination teams reach every child. Given the detailed nature of campaign planning and the availability of additional resources, campaigns inevitably reach poor children ordinarily missed by existing health services. The campaigns last a few days or weeks and are designed to reach every child in the target age group. The at-risk population is children under 15 years of age.

The strategies recommended for reducing measles mortality include:

1. providing the first dose of measles vaccine to successive cohorts of infants;
2. ensuring that all children have a second opportunity for measles vaccination;
3. enhancing measles surveillance with integration of epidemiological and Laboratory information;
4. improving the management of every measles case.

WHO and UNICEF now endorse a new recommendation on measles vaccination. In addition to the first dose of measles vaccine at nine months of age, there should be a second opportunity for measles vaccination for all children so that the first dose can be given to children who have not been vaccinated previously or who have not responded to the first dose.

During the implementation of measles control activities, two opportunities should be considered for improving overall child health: (i) provide vitamin A supplementation through immunization services and; (ii) where appropriate, integrate rubella vaccination and surveillance activities with those of measles vaccination and surveillance.

A campaign has four major elements:

1. PLANNING - Coordination among the core partners, in-country partners, and Red Cross national societies to determine target populations, resource needs, and logistics
2. THE COLD CHAIN (supply) - The process of getting the vaccine and all needed supplies from a warehouse in the country to the hundreds of vaccination posts
3. SOCIAL MOBILIZATION (create the demand) - The Red Cross role of spreading the word about the importance of immunization to each family with a child in the targeted age group
4. FOLLOW-UP - Processing the results of the campaign to determine the successes based on coverage, weak points, and future plans