In Brief: Drive to immunize 2.5 million children in Tajikistan

Photo: CARE Tajikistan

The campaign is targeting all children aged between 12 months and 14 years (file photo)

DUSHANBE, 28 September 2009 (IRIN) - A nationwide campaign to immunize about 2.5 million Tajik children against measles and rubella was launched on 28 September.

The two-week campaign supported by UNICEF and WHO is targeting all children aged between 12 months and 14 years.

The immunization will be carried out by health workers at urban and rural health centres and also by mobile vaccination teams visiting schools and pre-school educational institutions, according to UNICEF and WHO.

Despite significant progress in reducing the worldwide incidence of measles, it remains one of the major infectious diseases, accounting for over 10 percent of deaths in children under five. WHO estimates that measles kills thousands of people each year, despite global immunization coverage of at least 80 percent.

Rubella is not generally a serious illness, but infection in women in the first three months of pregnancy results in 70 percent of children being born with congenital rubella syndrome - severe developmental disabilities including blindness, deafness, brain damage and heart disease, according to WHO.

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