Measles outbreak fear in southern Africa
29/06/2010
Hundreds of people have died in southern Africa since last year due to a measles epidemic.
Irin News reported the ongoing problem which has so far killed 758 people in countries such as South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Funding for vaccination has been hard to obtain because cases are not being seen by countries, Unicef told the news source.
Without these reports, resources cannot be secured to help.
Its spokesperson also explained that some religious groups in southern Africa refuse western medicine such as vaccinations.
A World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesperson warned that nearly all children in south and east Africa (95 per cent at least) had not received an immunisation against the virus.
The WHO says that 90 per cent of children or more should be vaccinated routinely in order to prevent outbreaks.
Irin News recently reported the call to improve infrastructure in order to tackle hunger in Africa.
Shenggen Fen of the International Food Policy Institute pointed out the existing system proved in 2007 and 2008 to be inadequate, when there was a crisis in food prices.
Written by Dan Parr
