Great news coming out of Asia this week: Cambodia, Japan, and Brunei join a growing list of Western Pacific countries having achieved measles elimination as determined by the World Health Organization (WHO).
This is a historic achievement for Cambodia. Since the early 2000s, Cambodia has placed a lot of focus and resources on conducting mass measles vaccination campaigns, and WHO attributes the country’s success to their intense focus on two dose delivery through routine immunization.
As a founding partner of the Measles & Rubella Initiative (M&RI), the United Nations Foundation has been at the forefront of measles eradication efforts. As a campaign of the UN Foundation, Shot@Life is on track to contribute to the vaccination of approximately 1.16 million children against measles through M&RI, supporting countries like Cambodia in their efforts to eliminate measles.
Now that the country has achieved measles elimination, Cambodia will focus on strengthening measles surveillance to maintain optimal population immunity. As we congratulate Cambodia on their success, we ask our supporters to turn attention to measles outbreaks in the neighboring nation of the Philippines.
Around the world, measles kills 400 children every day, on average, and just $2 will provide one child with a lifetime of immunity from this horrible disease.
Photo credit: WHO/B. Bayutas