Next to him, 10-year-old Ana, wearing the national school uniform of a white labcoat and clutching her schoolbooks explained: "We're here to be vaccinated against measles. I don't know exactly what it is but it's an illness and lots of people die from it."

Sofrimento and Ana are two of the seven million Angolan children to be vaccinated over the next month against a fatal disease that can be prevented by routine immunization.

The U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF (news - web sites)), spearheading the campaign with Angola's health ministry, estimates 30 Angolan children die of measles every day. In Angola the disease has a fatality rate of one in ten, compared to one in a thousand in developed countries.

Another young pupil, Vito, proudly holds up a white card which shows he's already had the jab. "It didn't even hurt," he said. The atmosphere here is almost festive and the children, who have grown up in a country long riven by civil war, seem anything but scared of needles.

The anti-measles drive is the biggest health operation in Angola's history and the first of its kind since the devastating war ended in February last year. The campaign aims to eradicate measles by ensuring that more than 90 percent of babies born will be routinely vaccinated by 2007.

INTENSIVE CARE

The anti-measles campaign also marks the beginning of a return to "normal" health care in Angola.

Nearly three decades of strife and a lack of government spending have left Angola's health services in tatters. One woman described state hospitals in the capital, Luanda, as "the place you go to die."

Health care is even worse in the province because of a lack of hospitals, trained staff, medicines and other essential facilities. The few Angolans who can afford it go to South Africa or Europe for medical treatment.

Health Minister Albertina Henrique Hamukwaya said she believed the country could now focus on real priorities.

"We want to take the opportunity that the country is at peace to mobilize the whole society for this fight," she said. "We believe that this initial phase will reinforce the health system, and then we can proceed with routine vaccinations."

The campaign got off to an upbeat start in Malange, around 250 miles east of Luanda, where one year after the end of the war the scars of conflict are still very apparent.

The town's buildings are still pockmarked with bullet holes, infrastructure is devastated and poverty is acute.

At the freshly renovated Esquadrao Bomboko school, however, the future was on display.

"Good morning our visiting friends," a group of children chanted while others sang, danced and clapped in a ceremony to welcome UNICEF executive director Carol Bellamy and Education Minister Antonio Burity da Silva for the local launch of the campaign.

SIGNS OF CHANGE

Bellamy was in Malange almost two years ago when UNITA rebels and government forces were still fighting but what she sees now is very different.

"Now children are going to school, teachers are being trained, children are being vaccinated. These are the beginning signs of what peace can really bring," she said as she walked through the school.

Angola remains saddled with problems that most countries would find overwhelming -- an unknown number of land mines litter the countryside and amputee victims beg in the streets of Luanda.

The country has about 2.4 million people still internally displaced, while refugees are starting to return from neighboring countries, increasing pressure on basic services.

Angola produces around 900,000 barrels of crude oil per day, but still depends heavily on aid. With measles, the government and UNICEF feel they have a chance to make a quick and effective change.

The measles campaign runs until May 19. Collapsed infrastructure and land mines mean reaching children in rural areas may be tricky.

But UNICEF says it is confident of achieving its objectives with aircraft from the U.N. World Food Program as well as helicopters and vehicles from the defense ministry.

Thousands of people have been trained to burn and bury used syringes so needles are used only once to avoid spreading HIV (news - web sites).

The operation will cost $8 million in 2003 with UNICEF footing $6.2 million of the bill. It says it needs to raise another $6 million for next year. The overall cost of the program is not yet known.

Sixteen-year old Vula Custodio Fernando Armando, sitting on a wall outside the school, said he had been explaining the importance of the vaccine to other children -- helping draw street children into their first contact with the authorities.

"They have to be vaccinated because we kids are the future of this country and otherwise we'll get sick and we'll build a sick country," he said.