Question

Create a case Study "Eliminating measles in southern Africa" with the infor below

Health Condition: Measles, one of the most contagious infections known to humans, ranks among the top four childhood killers worldwide. Despite the existence of a safe and effective vaccine, an estimated 30 to 40 million cases of the disease and some 454,000 deaths occurred in 2004. Just under half of these deaths were in sub-Saharan Africa, where measles kills more children than HIV/AIDS. In 1996, the seven countries of southern Africa reported a total of 60,000 measles cases and 166 measles deaths.

Intervention or Program: In 1996, seven southern African countries agreed on a plan to eliminate measles. The strat­egy consisted of:

routine immunization for babies at nine months;

a nationwide "catch-up" campaign to provide a second opportunity for immunization to all children aged 9 months to 14 years; and

follow-up campaigns in young children every three to four years.

In addition, the countries organized surveillance for cases of measles and improved laboratory fa­cilities so that suspect cases could be confirmed.

Impact: Between 1996 and 2000, the number of measles cases across southern Africa fell from 60,000 to 117. The number of measles deaths fell from 166 to zero.

Cost and Cost-Effectiveness: The majority of the funding for the measles initiative came from national budgets. An esti­mate of the total cost of the program is $26.4 million, with the average cost per immunized child at $1.10. The cost of in­creasing routine coverage from 50 to 80 percent has been estimated at about $2.50 per year of healthy life gained, making measles immunization an extremely cost-effective intervention.

Answer 1

Measles is one of the most contigious human contagios human infections. along with acute respiratory infections, diarrheal disease, and malaria, it ranks among the top 4 childhood killersworldwide nearly nine out of 10 measles deaths claim the lives of children under the age of five. malnutrition especially viatmin a deficiency strongly increases the risk of death from measles. of an estimated 454,000 deaths from measles in 2004, the measles virus spreads through the air attacking vulnearable surfaces in the body such as lungs the lining of the intestines, and the cornea. the infections results in a wide range of symptoms including pneumonia and diarrhea. the most visible signs include fever, cough, runny nose, and lips, red rims to the eye, rash, peelingskin and difficulty breathing, in devloping countries the chances that a child infectedwith the measels virus will die of the disease range from about 5% to 15% but the proportions can be higher in overcrowded conditions or during outbreaks, in zimbabwe, where some parents refused to allow their children to be immunized on religious grounds the 3 countries Zimbbawe,Botswana, and South africa intriduces public health status to discourage the religious refusal of vaccinations, so the immunization programme of catch up, followup, for the measels in the south africa used its ongoing series of polio national immunization days to deliver measels vaccine to all children aged between 9 months and 14years during 1996 to 1997 and the follow up programme for 3 to 4 years, because of the importance of monitoring the impact of the campaigns, countries also increasedtheir surveillance of measles cases, Results:by 2000, 6 of the seven countries had completed their catch up campaigns for these 6 survelliance data could therefore be analyzed in 1996 they had reported a total of 60,000 measles cases, by 2000the number of confirmed cases was just 117 a reduction of close to 100 % , the numberof reported measles deaths had been 166 1996:, in 2000 it was zero, Cost and costeffictiveness : the majority of funding for the measles initiative came from national government budgets the south africa government funded its own activities in full and an estimate of the total cost of the program is 226.4 million dollars , with the average cost per immunized child at dollar 1.10 and the cost of increasing routine coverage from 50 to 80 perrcent has been estimated at around dollar 2.50 per year of healthy life gained, by putting in context, intervention that cost less than gross national income per capita for each year of healthy life gained are considered to be cost effective the added cost of the measles campaign on top of routine services must be also takes into account, in estimates from a set of african countries where catch up campaigns have been pursed in 2001. Maintaining the success : tackling disease such as measles is hardly a onetime effort it requires steady, conscientious effort by public health workers, backed by commited government in the seven countries and the routine immunization system keeps up, the intense effort against measles succeeds only within a functioning public health architecture.