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Launched in 2001, the Measles Initiative is a partnership—led by the American Red Cross, United Nations Foundation, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF and World Health Organization—committed to reducing measles deaths worldwide. The Measles Initiative partners provide technical and financial support to governments and communities to carry out mass vaccination campaigns.
Originally formed to reduce measles deaths in Africa, the Initiative now supports vaccination campaigns around the world. Since 2001, the Measles Initiative supported the vaccination of more than 500 million children, helping to reduce measles deaths by 68% globally and 91% in Africa (compared to 2000).
The Initiative also increasingly includes additional life-saving interventions during vaccination campaigns, including insecticide-treated mosquito nets for malaria prevention, vitamin A, polio vaccines, and de-worming medicine.
STRATEGY
The Measles Initiative supports the WHO/UNICEF Comprehensive Strategy for Sustainable Measles Mortality Reduction. The four key components to this strategy are:
- Provide every child with a dose of measles vaccine at nine months of age or shortly thereafter;
- Give all children from nine months to 15 years of age a second opportunity for measles immunization;
- Establish effective surveillance; and
- Improve clinical management of cases, including vitamin A supplement.
GOAL
To support the global goal of reducing measles deaths by 90% by 2010 (compared to 2000).
Download the Measles Initiative Fact Sheet
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