CERF allocated $646,000 million to immunize 630,000 against measles in Lesotho
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A mother and her child in Lesotho
[ Photo: UNICEF] |
21 May 2010: The World Health Organization (WHO) will receive $646,000 to immunize 630,000 children age 6 months to 15 years old and conduct public measles awareness campaign for 930,000 people. The country is experiencing a major outbreak of measles which is affecting children age 6 months to 16 years and adults, but the majority of the cases are children.
The outbreak began at the end of January 2010 in the district of Quthing. In the first week of February 2010, more cases were detected in other districts resulting in the declaration of an outbreak in the country. The situation has since extended to all ten districts of Lesotho. By the end of April 2010, there was a total of 2,037 suspected and 1,295 confirmed cases. To this date, 26 deaths have been confirmed with a case fatality rate of 1.3 percent from four districts (Quthing, Maseru, Leribe and Thaba Tseka). The morbidity and mortality recorded in the current outbreak surpasses those recorded in 2004.
[Last updated: 28 May 2010]