UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations and its humanitarian partners are helping the government of Samoa fight against a national measles outbreak that has killed 63 people, a UN spokesman said on Friday.

"Around 200 new cases are reported daily, most of them affecting children under 5," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. "As of today (Friday), some 4,357 measles cases have been recorded with 63 deaths."

The national measles outbreak was declared in mid-October, Dujarric said. Nearly 90,000 people have been vaccinated in recent weeks.

The government started a complementary 2-day mass vaccination campaign Thursday with support from the World Health Organization's (WHO) emergency medical team and the UN Children's Agency (UNICEF) supplied over 200,000 vaccines, he said.

Coordinating with the United Nations and other partners, the government appealed on Thursday for 10.7 million U.S. dollars to support 116,000 people, mainly children and women of reproductive age.

Estimates from UNICEF and WHO released Thursday said, "vaccination coverage in Samoa plummeted from 58 percent in 2017 to just 31 percent in 2018, largely due to misinformation and mistrust among parents." Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)