Pam Daigle, COO for the Greater Cleveland chapter, and Joan Kelley-Williams, Director of International and Social Services for the Bay Area chapter, joined the December 2001 campaign in Ghana to view firsthand how the American Red Cross is saving lives in Africa. Both chapters have already begun steps to involve their communities in the fight against measles.

"I have been to Africa before, but what still strikes me the most is how blessed we are - just the luck of birth that we ended up here as opposed to somewhere else. It is important that we share what we are doing in Africa with others," Daigle said.

Daigle believes that Red Cross has a moral imperative to join the fight against measles. "How can a thinking, caring person look at measles and not help. For $1, you can vaccinate a child. In Africa, a half million children die every year of measles. How can we know all that and not do something? If we can, we must," she continued.

Over 1,500 local Red Cross volunteers were recruited to spread the word about the importance of immunization to mothers and caretakers in Ghana. The Ghana Red Cross Society played an active role in training the volunteers and monitoring success to be sure each household was reached with lifesaving messages. "It is striking to see the impact that our Red Cross sister societies make - they use bicycles to go door-to-door into isolated communities. The mothers are very busy, but they do stop and listen to a volunteer talk about vaccination," said Kelley-Williams.

According to a new survey device used during the Ghana campaign, more than 90% of mothers asked said they heard about immunization from a Red Cross volunteer. (LINK to story below - Ghana goes hi-tech to beat measles)

"I will never forget when I joined a Red Cross volunteer at a family's house that had no running water. I watched the mother listen about immunization, and I knew that when we left that house, that child would be vaccinated," said Kelley-Williams. "It truly is about saving lives one house at a time."

America may have a moral imperative to fight measles, but it also has reason enough from the health risk possible within its own borders. Importations of diseases into this country happen often enough, and children not vaccinated are at great risk. Some people are apathetic, don't have the means or time to take their children to be immunized, and there are still others who simply do not believe in immunization.

In the United States, measles coverage is 90.5%, which means that about 10% of Americans are not vaccinated against measles. Americans who are fully vaccinated, meaning those who have received all recommended doses of all vaccines, is 72.8%, or 27% unvaccinated.

In fact, according to the Ohio Department of Health, in Cuyahoga County the immunization rate for preschoolers is 53% in Cleveland and 81% in the suburbs. Interestingly enough, some reasons for this low rate are similar to those given by African mothers - they have no transportation means to get to the vaccination site, apathy, or they can't miss work to take their children to get vaccinated.

Daigle believes "All it would take is one case of measles in our community and we could have a serious epidemic." This fact is just one more reason Daigle believes Americans should join in the fight against measles - helping the most vulnerable, and at the same time, protecting our families at home.

"Helping with the measles initiative is a natural extension of the Red Cross mission - assisting the most vulnerable worldwide," said Kelley-Williams.

Daigle agrees. "We cannot isolate ourselves from the rest of the world - we cannot keep resources to ourselves."

Daigle and Kelley-Williams spent most of their time with Ghana Red Cross volunteers as they made their rounds to homes and schools to spread the word about immunization. "I have this image of 50 to 75 schoolchildren lined up, patiently awaiting their measles shots. I was struck with the thought that because of the work we are doing, three of them won't die this year. We are saving lives in a very direct way," says Daigle.