HEALTH
REPORT - Efforts to Stop Measles
By Nancy Steinbach
This is the VOA Special English Health Report.
International health leaders meet in Cape
Town（开普敦）, South Africa, this week to discuss efforts to reduce
deaths from measles. The World Health Organization organized the special
meeting.
Health experts estimate that each year nearly
750,000 children die from the disease. More than half are in Africa.
The World Health Organization says measles is the leading cause of preventable
death among children. It says up to 40,000,000 people a year get measles.
Measles is highly infectious. The virus can
spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Measles produces a
red rash（皮疹）on the skin and high body
temperature for several days. It can cause a cough, runny nose, and
red, watery eyes. But measles can also cause serious health problems
such as blindness, pneumonia（肺炎）and brain
infection.
Last year, at its Special Session on Children,
the United Nations set a goal to reduce deaths from measles. The goal
is a fifty percent reduction from the levels in 1999. The aim is to
reach this goal in 2005. Another goal is a two-thirds reduction in the
number of children under five years of ago who die of measles. That
goal is to be met by 2015.
One effort to stop the spread of measles is
taking place this week in Uganda. The United Nations Children's Fund
is involved in a national vaccination（接种疫苗）campaign
through October nineteenth. Officials expect to give the measles vaccine
to more than twelve-million children.
Earlier campaigns were aimed at children age
five and younger. But the New Vision newspaper in Uganda says older
children have started to suffer from measles. So it says children up
to fifteen will be vaccinated in this campaign.
The W-H-O says more children around the world
need to get vaccinated against measles in order to protect populations.
Children in developing nations may not get the vaccine because of a
lack of supplies. But some parents in richer nations refuse the vaccine
for their children.
Several years ago, a London doctor suggested
a possible link between the vaccine and the mental disorder autism（孤独症）.
Most experts dispute any connection. Still, doctors in Britain are concerned
because vaccination rates there are down and cases of measles are up.
This VOA Special English Health Report was written
by Nancy Steinbach.
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