Quantcast
Published On: Sat, Mar 22nd, 2014

Australia, South Korea among W. Pacific countries declared measles-free

With outbreaks of measles raging in areas of the Pacific–the Philippines and Vietnam to name a couple, the World Health Organization in the Western Pacific Region announced this week that four countries were declared measles-free.

Image/CIA

Image/CIA

Australia, Macao (China), Mongolia and the Republic of Korea become the first countries to earn this distinction in the Western Pacific.

For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page and the Outbreak News This Week Radio Show page

“The elimination of measles must remain a priority in order to promote equity and to reduce the high burden of mortality and morbidity caused by this disease on the world’s most vulnerable, not only in our Region but also around the world,” said Dr Shin Young-soo, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific in his comments to the Regional Verification Commission meeting in Seoul. “Far too many children succumb to a virus infection that can be prevented so easily by a vaccine that should be part of any standard immunization programme”.

“All countries must now intensify their efforts to immunize all children against measles and indeed other vaccine-preventable diseases, particularly those in harder-to-reach communities and remote areas”, urged Dr Shin. “We must reach every community, no matter where they are. This is the heart of equity. We have made significant progress in recent years. Let us not be complacent but strive even harder to help ensure the well-being of generations to come.”

Since 2009, more than 230 million children have been immunized against measles through mass vaccination campaigns in the Western Pacific Region.
unnamedpassport1

On the DISPATCH: Headlines  Local  Opinion

Subscribe to Weekly Newsletter

* indicates required
/ ( mm / dd ) [ALL INFO CONFIDENTIAL]

About the Author

- Writer, Co-Founder and Executive Editor of The Global Dispatch. Robert has been covering news in the areas of health, world news and politics for a variety of online news sources. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of the website, Outbreak News Today and hosts the podcast, Outbreak News Interviews on iTunes, Stitcher and Spotify Robert is politically Independent and a born again Christian Follow @bactiman63

Displaying 1 Comments
Have Your Say
  1. Japan, Cambodia and Brunei eliminate measles | Outbreak News Today says:

    […] year after Australia, Macao (China), Mongolia and the Republic of Korea were declared measles-free, the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Region added Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia and […]

Leave a comment

XHTML: You can use these html tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

like_us_on_facebook

 

The Global Dispatch Facebook page- click here

Movie News Facebook page - click here

Television News Facebook page - click here

Weird News Facebook page - click here 

DISPATCH RADIO

dispatch_radio

THE BRANDON JONES SHOW

brandon_jones_show-logo

Archives