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May 21, 2003

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

“Angola: Measles Campaign Success”

Africa News Service (www.allafrica.com) (05/19/03)

UNICEF announced last week that the National Measles Campaign in Angola is working to vaccinate 7.6 million children between the ages of nine months and 15 years.  The first two phases of the effort vaccinated over 5 million children, and now UNICEF and its partners are trying to reach the most inaccessible rural areas of Angola for the final phase.  UNICEF Representative Mario Ferrari noted that although the campaign has been “complicated by post-war difficulties of poor access and damaged transportation routes,” the effort has also been a success in fighting Angola's largest vaccine-preventable killer of children.”  Statistics show that approximately 10,000 Angolan children die from measles each year.