Measles: a disease that has to be eradicated

The incidence of measles is on the decline but it still claims the lives of one million children annually worldwide. The devastating effects of the di sease on the health and nutrition of children in developing countries and i ts high mortality are well documented. The rapid decay of maternal antibodi es in infants in developing countries results in early susceptibility to th e disease and hence the general recommendation to vaccinate at the age of 9 months. Sustained international efforts have raised global vaccination cov erage rates to around 80% at which level it has remained static. Many count ries in the western hemisphere have eliminated the disease by adopting aggr essive strategies, which include one-off 'catch-up' mass campaigns to vacci nate all children aged 1-14 years, 'mop-up' campaigns targeting children wh o were missed during the 'catch-up' campaign, efficient routine vaccination services capable of reaching 90% of infants, strong surveillance activitie s, prompt outbreak response, and 'follow-up' campaigns every 2-4 years whic h target 1-4-year-old children. This success story coupled with the fact th at measles has many biological features favouring eradication, and consider ing that it is a severe and lethal disease still prevailing in many areas, calls for immediate international adoption of eradication goals within a sp ecified period of time.