Measles immunisation in developing countries

Lessons from measles vaccination in developing countries.

Difficulties in reaching and sustaining high enough coverage combined with the need to delay vaccination until most infants have lost maternal antibodies make it hard to control measles with standard titres of measles vaccine. Maternal antibodies are no longer a factor in infants after 9 months in developing countries and after 15 months in developed countries. It would be good to have a vacc...

The Impact of Conflict on Immunisation Coverage in 16 Countries

Background Military conflict has been an ongoing determinant of inequitable immunisation coverage in many low- and middle-income countries, yet the impact of conflict on the attainment of global health goals has not been fully addressed. This review will describe and analyse the association between conflict, immunisation coverage and vaccine-preventable disease (VPD) outbreaks, along with...

Measles immunisation: time to close the gap.

A measles epidemic controlled by immunisation.

AIM In 1997, an immunisation campaign, using measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, was planned for children aged 2-10 years to prevent a measles epidemic predicted by mathematical modelling. The epidemic started before the campaign and is described here. METHOD Measles hospitalisation, notification and laboratory data were combined. RESULTS The epidemic started in April 1997 and was largely over b...

Measles immunisation: why have we failed?

Measles is still a significant cause of illness in British children although a safe and effective vaccine has been available here since 1968. 1982 was a particularly bad year with a steep increase in the notification rate of measles that probably represents only a fraction of the real incidence. Thousands of children have been ill; many have had troublesome complications; and a few may even hav...