Measles Initiative Fact Sheet

The bad news:

• Millions of children still remain at risk from measles. Malnourished and un-immunized children under five, especially infants, are at high risk of contracting measles and are more vulnerable to death.
• Measles is a leading cause of vaccine-preventable death among children.
• Approximately 410,000 children under the age of five die globally of measles each year.
• Measles can cause severe health complications, including pneumonia, diarrhea, encephalitis, and corneal scarring, which can lead to blindness.
• Spread through the air, measles is one of the most contagious diseases known.
• The primary reason for ongoing childhood deaths is the failure to deliver at least one dose of measles vaccine to all infants.
• In developing countries, measles death rates range from 1-5%, but in refugee settings and among malnourished children, the death rate may reach 10-30%.

• Thanks to improvements in routine and supplementary immunization activities, globally measles deaths have dropped by 48% from 871,000 in 1999 to an estimated 454,000 in 2004.
• The largest measles related deaths reduction occurred in Africa, the region with the highest burden of the disease, where estimated measles cases and deaths dropped by 60%
• Measles vaccination is the most cost-effective public health intervention available for preventing deaths.
• It costs less than $1 to vaccinate a child against measles.
• As of the end of 2005, 1.2 million deaths were prevented and over 217 million children received measles vaccinations.
• Since 2001 the Initiative has mobilized more than $308 million and has supported vaccinations in over 44 countries in African and Asian.
• The success of the Measles Initiative partnership strengthens other health initiatives in countries participating in measlescampaigns.
• In December 2004, for the first time ever, children in Togo received four life-saving interventions at once: de-worming medicine, polio and measles vaccines, and insecticide-treated nets to help prevent malaria.
• Many times, vaccination coverage exceeds 100% during a campaign because children from neighboring areas or those outside the age range come to receive the vaccine.