Measles campaigns help families, communities fight other diseases faster

"The most important result of the campaigns is that it strengthens our routine immunizations," said Dr. Namonyo in Kampala. The flip side is true for the success of the mass measles campaigns. Dr. Hoekstra of UNICEF said, "Routine immunization must be in place to reach every child. If that is not in place, we must have mass measles campaigns to be effective in the fight against measles."

A nurse at the Soroti Regional Hospital said that of their 120 children in the pediatrics part of the hospital, half of those had measles. "After this campaign, we expect a large reduction of cases in the ward," she said. Sister Epaku Alice of Soroti Regional Hospital said, "One time, a local church did immunizations. After that, the large room we used as a ward was no longer needed."

"I walked into a measles ward in Mbale District a year after a mass measles vaccination campaign and it was full of kids. I was surprised and asked the nurse why the measles ward was still full and she said 'these aren't kids with measles, we closed the ward. These are all kids with HIV and TB'," said Dr. Grabowsky, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention " Because measles cases were taking up about 20% of all the hospital beds, eliminating measles cases effectively increased hospital bed capacity by 20%."

"We have the know-how to tackle the problem, but the challenge we face in getting every child vaccinated is lack of adequate funds and political leadership," said Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF.

"We would desire such a state of affairs - where measles doesn't exist," said Alice Unukur. "We need our American Red Cross partners. When you see that beautiful, healthy, happy American child, think of that African child," she continued.

'We owe it to the children that they not get harmed by a disease that is so easily preventable," said Dr. Hoekstra.

Campaigns strengthen routine immunization programs
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