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THE battle to contain the measles outbreak that has killed more than 50 children countrywide received a major boost on Tuesday when Japan donated US$1.4 million to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and government.
At least 54 children have died since the outbreak was first detected last year.
Most of them had not been vaccinated because their parents are members of an Apostolic Faith sect, which discourages its followers from seeking medical treatment.
Mary Kamupota, the national co-ordinator of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), said the money will be used to buy a year’s supply of vaccines.
She said priority will be for measles vaccines to help expand the emergency vaccinations to counter the latest outbreak.
“These vaccines will go a long way in reducing vaccine preventable diseases such as measles,” Kamupota said at the handover ceremony.
“This is Japan’s fifth year of support to Zimbabwe’s children in the procurement of vaccines.
“This year’s grant will procure all 2010 traditional vaccines, injection supply material and also the cold chain equipment.”
Kamupota said government was working on a legal framework to deal with religious sects that prevent children from being vaccinated against the killer diseases.
She said the outbreak was also a reminder of the shortage of vaccines in the country.
At least 98% of the children who have succumbed to measles during the latest outbreak belong to the Apostolic Faith sect.
Unicef country representative, Dr Peter Salama said they would continue to offer technical support to affected areas.
“The deaths from measles from this outbreak really underscore why the grant from the government of Japan is so important.
“It’s easy to forget that simple preventable diseases such as measles can kill children if they are not vaccinated,” he said.
“We must access these unvaccinated children and ensure that the deaths stop and we would encourage all families and communities to take their children to be vaccinated because this is a disease that can kill children, we have seen this again and again.”
Salama said the grant will also help reduce the rate of child mortality in Zimbabwe.
Recent statistics from the Central Statistics Office show that there has been a 20% increase in the number of children who die before reaching the age of 10.
Koichi Morita, the Japanese ambassador to Zimbabwe, said immunisation eventually saved costs on treatment.
Reducing child mortality by 2015 is goal number four in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations for member states.
Unicef has warned that Zimbabwe is unlikely to meet its MDGs as a result of the decade long economic collapse before the formation of the unity government last February.
BY BERTHA SHOKO
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